NCC and the broadband year

Wi-Fi makes possible the virtual presence of internet connectivity within a given area, allowing internet enabled devices to hook up and connect to the web at the users’ discretion.While many advanced societies now take Wi-Fi for granted, this is not the case in many other countries. In developing countries like Nigeria, Wi-Fi is still the […]

Wi-Fi makes possible the virtual presence of internet connectivity within a given area, allowing internet enabled devices to hook up and connect to the web at the users’ discretion.
While many advanced societies now take Wi-Fi for granted, this is not the case in many other countries. In developing countries like Nigeria, Wi-Fi is still the preserve of exclusive zones like airports, big hotels, some private companies and public organisations and the like. For the majority of internet users, however, connection to the web is provided by telecom service operators or internet service providers as the case may be. This is expected to change in the not too distant future as Nigeria slowly, but surely enters the broadband era. The stage has been set since 2013 when the Federal Government inaugurated the Broadband Council to implement Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan from 2013 to 2018.
From the outcomes of last year, broadband deployment must necessarily dominate on the calendar of telecoms and ICT events planned by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the year 2015. This is necessary towards the realisation of the broadband master plan and to deepen broadband penetration. In February 2014, the commission had leased the 2.3GHz spectrum license to Bitflux Communications Limited to roll out wholesale wireless broadband infrastructure across the country. The NCC had said the auctioning of the spectrum was to expand critical broadband infrastructure across the country.
During the opening of the bids, the Minister for Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson said the spectrum sale would multiply broadband penetration in the country five-folds. Speaking through Dr. Tunji Olaopa, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications Technology, Mrs. Johnson warned that the government would not accept any excuses from the service provider on the roll out of broadband services.
Last December, the NCC had said it would issue another set of spectrum licenses to private companies within the first quarter of this year to build infrastructure using the open access model. If this target is met, Nigerians would enjoy greater bandwidth and ubiquitous internet availability soon.
Broadband promotes universal access or wireless fidelity, which will encourage the growth of ICT knowledge in basically all facets of our economy. The proliferation of smart phones and other similar devices will mean more data circulation and sharing, possibilities for video streaming and internet surfing made possible by greater bandwidths.
Added to these will be the envisaged upscale in the demand for smart phones, tablets and mini computers which allow their owners to explore the web with multimedia platforms. Video streaming, internet radio, greater speed and reliability in information download and upload, etc, will be taken for granted. Thus the sale of smartphones is expected to rise.
Broadband connectivity speeds up economic and social activities in both private and public sectors of the economy. Commerce and governance, policy formulation and decision making can be enhanced and at reduced costs. As Mrs. Omobola Johnson aptly noted, ‘increased broadband penetration has a direct correlation with increased economic activities and GDP contributions’.
As the telecoms sector regulator, the NCC continues to promote broadband policy through the adoption of strategies to encourage national backbone roll-out, managing competition policies and tendencies, monitoring the roll-out of infrastructure, and ensuring a level and stable playing field for all stakeholders in the sector. Needless to state, effective policy and regulatory frameworks are vital to the development of broadband connectivity.
The NCC has ensured a robust competitive environment among telecom operators in the country. Competition boosts broadband penetration and is the key driver of higher levels of investment in communication networks and services in many countries.
The Minister of Communications Technology is very optimistic, describing the National Broadband Plan as robust and implementable. She said at its inauguration that the plan had been widely circulated and has received positive feedback from the ITU, the Global System for Communications Association (GSMA), as well as other international bodies.
The goal of the broadband plan is to make available pervasive mobile broadband access to 80 percent of the population mostly by the year 2017. Meanwhile, 2015 is also the target for the digital switch-over of broadcasting in Nigeria. Digital broadcasting can become a reality with the full implementation of the broadband policy. Digital migration has been repeatedly postponed partly due to the narrow carrying capacity of the nation’s ICT base.
More investments in infrastructure, opening up the market space for more investors, a veritable and friendly regulatory environment will go a long way in facilitating the realisation of virtual communications access. 2015 is therefore an interesting year and if well executed, will mark a watershed in the development of the nation’s telecoms and ICT sector. It’s once again, all eyes on NCC.
Festus Omotunde, an ICT technologist writes from Lagos