Emma Okonji writes about government’s strategies in achieving its robust broadband plan as contained in the country’s National Broadband Plan
After achieving the set target for the 2013-2018 broadband plan , which was set at 30 per cent broadband target, the federal government, in 2019, constituted another broadband team and made the Chief Executive Officer of MainOne Broadband Company, Ms. Funke Opeke and the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as co-Chairpersons to drive the 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan. Though robust in nature, the 2020-2025 broadband plan has its targets, which government assured Nigerians, would be achieved through identified strategies.
The new broadband plan seeks to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria at a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90 per cent of the population and penetration rate of 70 per cent by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data.
The broadband plan also targets the deployment of nationwide fibre coverage to reach all state capitals, and provision of a point of presence in at least 90 per cent of local government headquarters. It also targets tertiary educational institutions, major hospitals in each state and fibre connectivity at statutory rates of N145/ linear metre for Right of Way (RoW).
FG’s strategies
Some of the strategies to achieve the broadband targets, according to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, are around four focus areas, namely: Infrastructure; Policy; Demand Drivers and Funding/Incentives.
According to Pantami, who had addressed the modalities for achieving the broadband strategies, the four focus areas were further broken down into 55 initiatives towards the actualisation of the targets, which include Infrastructure- 14, Policy – 23, Demand Drivers- 12, Funding/Initiatives-6.
According to Pantami, “Infrastructure is focused on building integrated infrastructure that is sustainable and resilient to close the gaps in addressing the broadband needs of the country and is geared towards extending broadband services to undeserved and under served areas in Nigeria. The Policy pillar addresses issues relating to the efficient use of spectrum, right of way, site acquisition policies, availability of infrastructure and market efficiency.
“Demand Drivers address barriers to the low usage rate and adoption of broadband services in the Country. Funding/Incentives identify the relevant financial incentives, fiscal policy, economic models and funding options to help the achievement of broadband penetration targets.
The diligent implementation of the recommendations in these focus areas through a multi-stakeholder approach will give the country a push into economic prosperity and create opportunities for job creation and innovation that will influence the GDP positively.”
NCC’s approach
In strengthening collaboration for a robust broadband deployment, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is also working towards achieving the set targets of the country’s broadband penetration.
At a recent stakeholders meeting on broadband penetration, organised by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who was represented by the Director of Digital Economy at NCC, Dr. Austine Nwaulune, said: “The Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025 is without a doubt an ambitious document with targets set that was developed jointly by critical stakeholders of the Telecoms and IT sectors of Nigeria. These stakeholders comprising of government and private sector executives, experts, managers, associations and MDA’s, represent the Who is Who of the Telecom and IT sectors and they are people with firm believe and optimism as well as assurance that the set targets are practically achievable.”
He explained that the Commission had already commenced some of this consolidation with the directive issued to Infraco licensees to commence immediate roll-out of optic fibre cables (OFC) as contained in their license agreements to all the LGA headquarters by giving them freehand to start from viable areas and gradually move to unviable areas while the expected counter-part funding from government is being finalised.
“An equally important consolidation in the area of spectrum availability is the Commission’s finalization of the Spectrum Trading Guidelines as well as our collaboration with NigComSat that will make available 400MHz of prime spectrum for Next Generation Network deployment in the near future.
“Collaboration with State Governments has also seen the adoption of the N145/m or outright waiver Right-of-Way (RoW) by six state governments, although, here we must mention that more needs to be done by the states and local governments to ensure full adoption and cascading of the decision for implementation. This notwithstanding, the Commission will not relent in its effort towards addressing the issue RoW,” Danbatta said.
Regulatory thrust
The Commission’s regulatory thrust towards enabling National Roaming, approval of e-SIM and 5G trials have also aggregated the efforts of the industry players towards achieving the set broadband target.
According to Danbatta, although there had been a three per cent decline in the broadband penetration from a peak of 45.93 per cent in October 2020 to 42.93 per cent in January 2021, which was largely as a result of the suspension of registration of new SIM cards in December to facilitate smooth linkage and synchronization of the SIM-NIN databases that will not only address some of the security challenges we are facing today but it will help us determine the truly unique numbers in the country, thus further guiding Nigeria towards achieving the 70 penetration target.
“The NNBP 2020-2025 has raised the performance bar for the whole telecom industry, however being a document crafted by experts and executives, there is no reason why it cannot be achieved to put Nigeria in a firm pedestal of nations with broadband access.
I wish to assure you that the Commission shall continue to proactively provide the necessary regulatory interventions which will facilitate the achievement of not only the 70 per cent broadband penetration target but other associated targets as well, which will truly transform our economy into a digital economy,” Danbatta said.
Economy policy, strategy
Speaking at the recent Anambra State Broadband Infrastructure Development Stakeholders Forum, Danbatta said the launch of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 by the federal government through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, would facilitate broadband access across the country, including Anambra State.
While thanking the Executive Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Willie Obiano, his Deputy, Dr. Nkem Okeke, and all the other eminent members of Cabinet for inviting him to speak on the subject “Facilitating Broadband Access in Anambra State through a Favourable Right of Way Regime”, Danbatta said the selected theme was a testament to the fact that Anambra State is cruising on the path of digital economy.
Danbatta said the Commission, in the drive for broadband, has licensed Infrastructure Companies (Infracos) for the South-east and five other zones of the federation including Lagos as a special zone.
“Under this initiative, the South-east Infraco licensee (Messrs. Zinox Technologies Ltd.) will be required to provide at least one Point-of-Access (PoA) in each of the 95 LGA’s that constitute the region and interconnect them with 1,314Km of optic fiber cable.
Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, is a major limiting factor to provision of broadband services in Nigeria, as it slows down network deployment with the cost of the limited capacities ultimately passed to the subscribers,” Danbatta said.
He applaud Anambra state for being one of the two states that have not just reduced the Right of Way charges offered to operators, but waived it completely. This action, is sure, to put Anambra State on the global map of Digital Economy, Danbatta said.
Digital infrastructure
Giving insights how digital infrastructure and literacy will further help Nigeria in achieving the transformational benefits of broadband, Danbatta said robust digital infrastructure and digital literacy are key to achieving transformational benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across public and private institutions in the country.
Danbatta stated this when he received a delegation of the Top Management Committee (TMC) of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), who paid him a courtesy visit recently at the Kano Zonal Office of the Commission.
Danbatta who thanked the hospital management for the visit and the award, said the Commission would continue to support federal institutions with necessary ICT equipment across the country and would assist AKTH in this regard, adding that robust digital infrastructure and literacy are prerequisites to achieving transformational benefits of ICT.
“As a Commission, we are working to bridge the infrastructure divide, which is an element of the entire digital divide ecosystem. We do these via a lot ongoing regulatory initiatives.
Also, through our training arm, Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), we provide digital literacy to critical sectors of the economy, including the health sector, through our Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme (ADAP),” he said.
Danbatta stated that the digital divide can be bridged by making computers available and accessible to people and key services of the economy of the country,
“Infrastructure that can be able to host this massive flow of information and knowledge is broadband infrastructure and this is top-most in the agenda of the Commission. Indeed, ICT is transforming every sector of the economy and the earlier we embrace the vast opportunity brought by ICT the better,” Danbatta said.
Stakeholders’ engagements
Pantami who spoke in a recent presentation about government’s strategic engagements with industry stakeholders in order to deepen broadband penetration, said he had a number of strategic engagements with key stakeholders to ensure the smooth implementation of the broadband plan.
He specifically said he met with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), facilitated by the Chairman of the Forum- the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on the 22nd of January 2020, where all governors unanimously agreed to adopt a maximum of N145/linear metre for Right of Way (RoW) charges for the deployment of broadband fibre cables, after he presented the benefits of broadband and requested the buy-in of the governors for the implementation of broadband plan and the Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria. He said the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has recently joined other six states that have implemented the unified RoW charges, and that discussions are ongoing with other state governors that have not implemented the N145 unified rate.
The Minister said he addressed the National Economic Council (NEC) on the18th March 2021, at a meeting that was chaired by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, with more than 30 governors in attendance. The Minister said he made a detailed presentation on the importance of broadband to the economy of the country and discussed the impact of ICT and telecoms on the economy, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics in the 4th Quarter GDP Report. He explained Vice President Osinbajo also urged the governors to support the implementation of the broadband plan by abiding to the Right of Way resolution.
