On
a day that Nigeria was ranked number two on the Broadband Affordability index
by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (a4ai), the Nigerian
Communication Technology Minister, Dr Omobola Johnson delivered what seemed to
be a sucker punch, telling the gathering at the Ericson and a4ai programme
at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that what will grow the internet is
local content and not over-reliance on YouTube and other such
channels.
This
was against the popular taste of panel members gathered from across the world
who were very enamoured on the social network channels. “What will drive the
internet is relevant, local content. The most visited sites in Nigeria are the
job and the news sites, not social media,” the minister told a hushed gathering
that was trying to chew the force of that delivery.
Nigeria’s
showing in the research, according to the presentation by Sonia Jorge,
Executive Director, a4ai, was buoyed by a strong leadership and
regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition in
the telecommunications sector, efficient spectrum allocation, Universal access
to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among
others.
Making
her opening remarks, Dr Johnson informed that the decision of the Nigerian
government that ICT was primary leading to creation of the Communication
Technology Ministry has positively affected the fortunes of the sector. She
hailed the commitment of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to
the development of broadband technology in the country, pointing out that on
presentation of the The Broadband Report to him in 2013, the President
immediately gave the implementation go-ahead. His action has added impetus to
what is happening in the sector.
Here
is a summary of the report on Nigeria as presented by Jorge: “Nigeria comes
second in the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies – scoring
higher than other African developing economies like Kenya, Morocco and Uganda,
and higher even than some emerging economies, including Mexico, South Africa,
Thailand and Tunisia. The backbone infrastructure in Nigeria has improved
significantly over the last decade, with multiple players, including Phase 3,
Glo 1, Suburban Telecom, Multilink and MTN, building fibre networks that
crisscross the country. Nigeria’s regulator, the Nigerian Communication
Commission, plans to award seven licenses to regional infrastructure companies
to extend broadband infrastructure nationally. The first two of these were
awarded in early 2015 to MainOne and HIS Communications to provide services in
Lagos and North Central states, respectively. The government is also working to
improve infrastructure sharing among these operators, who have traditionally
built overlapping fibre networks.
"The nascent “Smart States” initiative, which
sees states committing to reduce the cost of broadband access by reducing
taxation and simplifying regulation, is also a positive step. Nigeria’s mobile
broadband penetration rate stands at just 10% – despite the fact that close to
40% of Nigerians use the Internet – and the government has put in place
policies to increase this penetration level to 30% by 2018. To increase the
ability of mobile operators to serve more Nigerians, plans were recently
announced to auction spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band.”
The
study covers 51 emerging and developing economies. The countries are so ranked
based on period of commitment to pursuing policy and regulatory frameworks that
promote healthy and competitive markets for infrastructure expansion and have
been creating incentives to stimulate the demand for broadband for quite a long
time (at least two to three decades). The study noted that in the case of
developing economies, such as Rwanda and Nigeria, their efforts are more
recent.
The
foregoing is very true of Nigeria where transformation of the
telecommunications industry did not commence until the year 2000. Even then
broadband would only become a major menu on the table of government with the
creation of the Communication Technology Ministry and the strategic decision of
the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission to pursue an aggressive
broadband deployment.
The
Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan 2013-2018 which defines clear roadmap for the
industry and responsibility for stakeholders was released two years ago. A
major component of the plan is the role of the NCC in facilitating growth in
the sector. Supported by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, and in
fulfilment of its assigned role in the Broadband Plan, the NCC has lined up
series of new licensing to accelerate broadband growth in the country and
reduce cost of access.
Speaking
of his commitment to broadband growth in the country some time ago, Chief
Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Eugene Juwah said:
“Broadband is going to restructure the Nigerian Telecommunications industry or
the IT industry. It is going to move us from analogue lifestyle to a complete
digital lifestyle. If we don’t do it now, we shall be left behind. This is why
it is timely to the objective of the NCC and to me as the chief executive that
we start it right away and implement it without delay with all the resources
that government has given to us.”
In
spite of the progress recorded the Nigerian Communication Technology Minister
confessed that her country still needs a whopping $3.7bn to reach the various
underserved people in different parts of the country. On the challenges to
government’s efforts to creating digital citizens through the pervasive spread
of broadband, Dr Johnson listed the following: work on right of way, multiple
taxation, encouraging the demand side by ensuring people adopt the technology,
cost of access to infrastructure, and the challenge of local content among
others.
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