Phase3 Moves to Bridge Broadband Infrastructural Gap

Emma Okonji

Phase3 Telecom has commenced its broadband rollout plan towards the realisation of the country’s National Broadband Plan, which targets 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018.

The Phase3 rollout plan includes collaborating with other stakeholders to achieve 18,000km of fiber optics across the country.

In a statement made available to journalists at the weekend, the company said mobile telcos alone witnessed a sharp drop in the number of telecoms subscribers from 155 million in January last year to 140.7 million in December same year.

Phase3 Telecoms, the indigenous fibre optics provider, underscored the need to sustain partnerships geared towards culling more investment in broadband infrastructure deployment, designed to make Nigerians can make use of the enormous deposits of broadband capacities available to the country to increase broadband penetration which is currently 21 per cent and to make Nigeria’s broadband initiative a faster reality.

It admitted however that 2017 witnessed some economic contractions across sectors with the Nigerian telecom industry seeing a plummet in revenue for operators aided by operational hitches which affected quality of service.

To meet its target, it said will require an unwavering commitment of all government agencies in charge of and responsible for infrastructure at national and state levels to work with and support the roll-out of fibre optics to provide metro infrastructure that will in turn support a whole information powered eco-system.

The statement read: “As Phase3 believes that policies that allow telecom infrastructure companies to thrive is certain to attract more investments to support the capital expenditure programmes that needs to be undertaken to realize the country’s vision of digital transformation that will launch Nigeria into a truly hyper-connected age as seen in Japan.

“For digital transformation is not just about technology or technological industries as often hyped but rides heavily on a smartly structured operational process to be successful and that process must live on a bedrock of thriving telecom infrastructure that is rolled out to support broadband services vis a vis being fully protected from vandalism, theft and destruction through the strong enforcement of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) under the Cybercrime bill.

“A factor that is capable of showcasing Nigeria’s full dedication to ensuring broadband access for all – where the average user’s internet experience includes access to rich content at a minimum speed of 1.5 Mbit/s in real time. So that the nation can start to take the lead in Africa in exuding the dividends of connectivity including combating terrorism and stamping out disturbing security vices and challenges on a far higher scale than it currently does – which heavily impedes economic growth; earning capacity of citizens, institutions, industries and several other businesses with dwindling levels of economic contributions on the continent in comparison to other developing economies.

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