Broadband penetration at 39%, but long road ahead

The Federal Government has unveiled its 2020-2025 national broadband plan which is expected to increase the country’s superfast internet rate to 70 per cent in just five years. However, experts say much needs to be done if the government really wants to connect the unserved people in the rural areas. In its manifesto, the APC […]

The Federal Government has unveiled its 2020-2025 national broadband plan which is expected to increase the country’s superfast internet rate to 70 per cent in just five years.

However, experts say much needs to be done if the government really wants to connect the unserved people in the rural areas.

In its manifesto, the APC government promised to build a national superhighway by developing a fibre optic network.

Daily Trust checks, however, show that Nigeria’s broadband penetration is currently at 39 per cent, which means about 80 million Nigerians now have access to superfast internet.

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, said the ministry was committed to a minimum of 70 per cent broadband penetration in Nigeria by 2025.

Dr. Pantami said a digital economy policy and strategy for digital Nigeria would not be achieved without broadband penetration.

He said, “Whatever we do; we rely so much on broadband penetration. That is why any effort to complement what we have been doing to ensure broadband penetration, even for a kilometre, is highly commendable; we do not undermine it, and we really appreciate it.

“The main responsibility of government is to ensure that the environment is favourable and conducive, and if there are any challenges, the government will intervene.

“This is what we will continue to do, and I assure you within the time I am going to spend here, I will give 100 per cent to ensure that all the challenges we encounter are addressed.”

He further said the access gap in Nigeria was worrisome and the need to bridge it could not be overemphasised “because broadband penetration is directly proportional to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country.”

An IT expert and CEO of MainOne Technologies, Ms. Funke Opeke, said if there was right infrastructure in place Nigeria would achieve the 70 per cent target before 2025.

Ms. Opeke, who is the Chairperson of the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 Committee, said Nigeria had been at the forefront of IT and ICT in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr. Guy Harrison, an IT expert from the United Kingdom, said Nigeria’s broadband plan would provide an opportunity for countrywide connectivity and also set a framework for all engagements in the public and private sectors.

Mr. Harrison said, “Broadband networks deliver benefits across the whole of society and play a key role in this in achieving the Suitable Development Goals (SDGs) and in catalysing inclusive growth in Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has said a total of N65bn would be spent as counterpart fund for the laying of 127,000km of fibre optic across the country in the next four years.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who disclosed this, said the only way Nigeria could make broadband ubiquitous was to lay the cable throughout the country.

But the president of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, said the exorbitant cost of Right of Way (RoW) by state governments, vandalism of telecom infrastructure, poor or lack of access to public electricity to run telecom operations, multiple taxation and regulations and lack of national digital policy were all militating against ubiquitous broadband access across the country.

The President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Olusola Teniola, called for increased collaboration among telecommunication firms to create an industry that could attract more investors in the country.

However, the Coordinator of the National Association of Telecommunication Subscribers (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, believes the Federal Government should have gone beyond 39 per cent.

Chief Ogunbanjo told Daily Trust that there was no doubt that internet speed was now faster in the country than before because of increased broadband penetration, but that a lot more should have been achieved.

He said, “No one should doubt the 39 per cent increase in the broadband pronouncement of the government. Much more should have been achieved with a lot of resources in the country’s disposal.”

Ogunbanjo who said Nigeria should have hit 50 per cent penetration, called on government to put more effort into dispelling the 5G myth and the COVID-19 crisis in order not to jeopardise its broadband achievement.

Similarly, Ajayi Olowoora, a Lagos-based businessman, said he would not doubt the 39 per cent broadband increase claim of the government as he could “feel it on my phone.

Emma Chuks, a phone repairer at the Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos, also believes internet speed has changed for the better.