FG signs $10m contract with WIOCC to link internet to 3m homes

The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) to connect three million Nigerian homes with internet facilities and services. The Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, at the event on Wednesday in Abuja signed on behalf of the government, while Mr Darren […]

The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) to connect three million Nigerian homes with internet facilities and services.

The Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, at the event on Wednesday in Abuja signed on behalf of the government, while Mr Darren Bedford, WIOCC’s Group Chief Business Development Officer signed for his company.

The agreement would ensure the connectivity of fibre optic cables to Nigerian homes, schools, hospitals and public offices to power internet services.

The project would cost WIOCC about $10 million, while it would also provide opportunities for training of Nigerians and manufacturing of accessories, such as batteries locally.

Tijani said internet connectivity across Nigerian homes and offices would in a short-while crash the prices of data, calls and SMS, as Nigerians would have alternative platforms for internet connections across the country besides their phones.

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The minister said the development was an integral part of the steps taken by the present administration to ensure that Nigeria attained the status of one trillion dollars economy within the next few years as government and the private sector invest in digital infrastructures aggressively.

According to him, the project when delivered would allow Nigerians have a minimum connectivity of 25mbp at homes of downloads especially in cities, while people in rural areas would have a minimum of 10mbp downloads in their homes.

“This is a company that is already investing in Nigeria significantly. They obviously started through the submarine cable investment that they’ve made. But I think beyond that is the fact that they’re bringing something to the country that is long overdue for our people, which is fiber to home.

 

“So imagine you need to use internet and this is the standard all over the world. You don’t have to necessarily wait to use it on your phone. The ability to use top quality, the best service that you can get that can be at par with anything you get anywhere in the world relies on you having access in that manner.

 

“So our goal is to ensure that this will become mainstream, that it’s not only just for a few homes in highbrow estates or places like in certain part of Lagos. And they’re committing to connecting about 3 million homes in the next couple of years,” Tijani said.

 

In his remarks, Mr Darren Bedford, said the MoU signed with the Federal Government is expected to take internet direct to homes, hospitals and schools among others.

 

He said the investments would cost his company about $10 million at the initial stage as more states, local governments and institutions would be covered.

 

Bedford said already over 40,000 homes and some institutions have been connected with the fibre infrastructures for internet services, but regretted that WIOCC is facing challenges of Right of Way (RoW) and insecurity in some states.

 

“I think this project is going to have a big impact due to the fact that most of Nigeria is unconnected at the moment. So, the majority of businesses and people in their homes have to rely on mobile internet.

 

“They don’t have access to true high-speed broadband. You know, they can’t play in the international digital economy, and I think this is the first step to create this environment and to bring this to the Nigerian people. So, we have a target of 3 million homes.

 

“We’ve got an initial target of 3 million homes. The reason for that is you have to start somewhere. If you start with your ambitions too high, they generally fail.

 

“So, we’ve set our ambitions at a reasonable target, and during the course of the rollout for those 3 million homes, we’ll re-evaluate, and then we’ll decide of is it 3 million, 10 million, is it 30 million, but we’ve done a realistic initial plan that we think is achievable,” Bedford said.