‘CDMA operators’ future not guaranteed in broadband policy programme’

The revelation came as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah held a closed door meeting with telecommunications service providers and Internet Services Providers (ISP) Chief Executives Officers in Lagos to discuss regulatory framework of Open Access Model for broadband deployment in Nigeria.Juwah at the event tagged, ‘ industry […]

The revelation came as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah held a closed door meeting with telecommunications service providers and Internet Services Providers (ISP) Chief Executives Officers in Lagos to discuss regulatory framework of Open Access Model for broadband deployment in Nigeria.
Juwah at the event tagged, ‘ industry consultative forum on Open Access Model for next generation optic fibre broadband network’, said that the CDMA operators will only have a chance to participate in broadband by bidding for licenses and also improve their networks.
He said: “This is not addressing the issue of CDMA but what I can tell you is that CDMA operators will have a chance to also participate in broadband and bid for licenses if they want. No one is going to stop them from doing CDMA but in addition they will have a chance to improve their network and also join in this next initiative which is a new market segment that is best in Nigeria.”
Currently, only Visafone is visible among the CDMA operators as Starcomms, Zoom, Multilinks have all gone moribund.  
The EVC explained at the meeting  that the commission has examined Open Access Model as the right approach to optic fibre transmission network deployment to create the required broadband penetration in the country.
According to him, the model will also assist in addressing the challenges of congestions and unplanned towns, the challenges around infrastructure sharing, high cost of  right of way and others.
He noted that the objective of the initiative is to stimulate a new national broadband network that is not only widespread but also faster and more secured than what is available today so as to boost other aspects of the Nigerian economy.