The Executive Vice
Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Umar Garba
Danbatta has said the focuse of his administration at the ongoing Telecom World
in Busan, South Korea, is to attract the right investment to expand broadband
coverage in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.
Danbatta, in his remarks
at the official opening of Nigeria Pavilion at the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) organised Telecom World 2017, said that NCC has
noted with interest the recent joint report by ITU and UNESCO Broadband Commission for sustainable development which
indicated that Nigeria now has about 21 per cent broadband penetration.
The Commission, he said, is conscious of the reality
that broadband fuels faster data transmission speed and capacity.
“Our focus now is on how we can attract the right
investments to grow this critical area of the sector through broadband coverage
expansion,” he declared.
NCC, he noted, as a
foremost regulator, has put in place measures and guidelines to licence
wholesale broadband service providers consistent with the Open Access Model for
broadband deployment.
Danbatta said, of the
seven infrastructure companies (Infracos) earmarked for licensing, only two
have so far been licensed for Lagos which is commercial hub of Nigeria, and
Abuja including the North Central zone of the country leaving five more
licences for the South West, South East, South South, North East and North West
zones of the country.
“The process of
licensing of infracos for these five remaining zones is about to be concluded,”
he said.
Although, he said, Nigeria has made
very modest progress in the sector, “we still need to deepen investments to
make broadband pervasive in the country.”
Nigeria, he emphasized is at 21 per cent
now, “our target is to hit 30 per cent by 2018, consistent with the National
Broadband Plan.”
Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops
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