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Tag: Broadband

  • Why Nigeria may miss 90% broadband target

    Why Nigeria may miss 90% broadband target

    The failure of the seven companies licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to provide infrastructure across the country to deepen access to telecom services may derail the Federal Government’s 90 per cent broadband target of 2025.

     Known as infrastructure companies (InfraCos), the initiative was started during the latter days of the late Dr Eugene Juwah as the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC but was embraced and reviewed when Prof Garba Danbatta took over from him.

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     The idea was to license one InfraCo for each geo-political zone of the country and offer a licence for Lagos because of its strategic position to the economy.

    Thus, MainOne got an InfraCo licence for Lagos, Zinox Technology Limited got for Southeast and Brinks Integrated Solutions Limited for Northeast.

    Others are O’dua Infraco Resources Limited for Southwest, Fleek Networks Limited for Northwest, Raeana Consortium Limited for Southsouth and Broadbase Communications Limited for Northcentral.

     Brinks Integrated Solution, which has licence for Northeast, is expected to cover Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. Fleeks Networks Limited with Northwest licence will provide services to states, including Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.

    Southeast, which is being handled by Zinox Technologies Limited, would provide infrastructure to Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states while Raeana Consortium Limited would focus on Southsouth states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers.

     Broadbase Communications was initially expected to cover Benue, Abuja, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau states but had been asked by the Communication to focus on Abuja the way MainOne is focusing on Lagos. Through the open access model, they were licenced to provide Layer 1 (dark fibre) services on a commercial basis with a focus on the deployment of metropolitan fibre and transmission services, available at access points – Fibre-to-the-Node or neighbourhood (FTTN) – to seekers.

     Each InfraCo licence attracted N2.5 million for a 20-year tenor and was subject to renewals. However, there are other payments that follow such as administrative fees.

     Danbatta had said the Commission deliberately placed N2.5 million on the licence because it was not designed for revenue generation but to close the access gaps in the country.

     He said: “It is affordable so that interested entities within and outside Nigeria can come and obtain it, which is the most important thing. There are several other licences at the Commission that are very costly.”

     “The duration of the licence is 20 years because we took into consideration the life of the fibre.

    You can investigate the life span of a fibre cable. So, we need to allow licencees time to recoup their investment in laying the fibre. Everything about the InfraCo project was done scientifically and with due consideration of affordability.”

     But almost one decade on, the project has not taken off making it difficult for any of the licencees to access the counterpart funds of N64 billion earmarked for the project by the NCC. The counterpart funds would only be made available when the projects achieve certain milestones set by the Commission.

     Factors such as insecurity, foreign exchange (forex) scarcity, consistent naira devaluation and the fear of return on investments (RoI) especially in rural areas where service deployment promises little prospect of returns.

     “Can you invest in regions where kidnap-for-ransom has become a big business? Go and do your checks, apart from Lagos and Southwest that appear relatively peaceful, other regions have continued to battle one form of insecurity or the other. In some states, telecom services were shut down completely at a point in time to contain the activities of bandits. There is wilful infrastructure vandalism too,” an operator said on condition of anonymity.

     The NCC said broadband penetration in the country has increased from six per cent in August 2015 to 48.21 per cent by March of this year, hoping the figures would continue to grow

  • NCC ‘ll partner stakeholders to drive broadband development

    In spite of the enormous contribution of the telecoms sector to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), it is still conatrained by a myriad of challenges which could derail the Federal Government’s target of 30 per cent broadband penetration. But the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Sunday Dare says the regulator is partnering stakeholders in the industry to address these challenges, LUCAS AJANAKU met him in Lagos.

    What is your assessment of the industry and why is NCC convening this forum?

    The situation across the country is dire in terms of non-approvals of Right of Way (RoW) and multiple taxation. In some cases, we have more than 25 applications for permits unapproved for two years or more. Thus, in terms of deployment of telecom infrastructure, the major telcos suffer great setbacks and these translate into declining quality of service (QoS) to millions of subscribers. The non-approval and heavy taxation of telecom infrastructure have led to service gaps in FCT in particular and across the country. Nigeria has slightly over 250 service gaps where there is no telecom service or penetration.  Connectivity is not yet 100 per cent and we said without this approvals, we cannot have improvement in the QoS. The Commission has received assurances particularly from the FCT minister and some state governors that approvals will be granted speedily and taxes reviewed. Even as I speak, I think certain approvals have taken place.  Presently, given the situation which is staring us in the face, with the expiration of the NEC document soon, NCC is speeding up consultations. We are leveraging the results of the state-to-state interventions we have had, the feedback we’ve had across the stakeholder matrix, the experiences of the operators and numerous other engagements at the highest levels to review the document and present an acceptable standardised RoW and taxation document with regard to the telecoms industry. The Commission, in October last year, made a presentation to the office of the Vice President.NCC, through the Industry Working Group (IWG) is now looking at how it can bring all of these together- by identifying different interests, challenges of the economy and revenue and other relevant matters in the document review process.  What do we hope to achieve? To come up with a reasonable and acceptable document -a standardised regime of charges and taxation. One that pays attention to the peculiarity of a strategic state like Lagos and a developing telecom state like, perhaps Jigawa for instance, because it might be difficult to charge in Jigawa the same amount Lagos is charging. In some instances, charge per linear meter in Lagos can be N500 while in Jigawa, it may be slightly higher due to low volume of telecom activity and the need to generate some revenue. Importantly, beyond the charges, we hope to shorten the times for approvals, improve the engagement between the state governments who need tax revenue and the operators who want to deploy to expand their networks. Now, the NCC is caught between these two giants and the Commission’s overriding interest is to ensure that Nigeria’s goal of attaining a broadband penetration of over 60 per cent across the country is not impeded. The interests of the parties do not collide but are reinforcing. They complement each other.  If for instance, the telcos deploy their infrastructure, their revenue base increases by the same token the taxable revenue that will come to the state also increases. So if one of the operators makes N10billion because it is able to improve and increase the volume of its business and then it has problems with certain deployment and the revenue dips to N5billion, what is going to go to the federal and state as taxable revenue also decreases. So we hope that this document that we are trying to review now will look at this critically. NCC has other critical stakeholders. It is not just the state governments. We have the federal ministries, departments and agencies and everybody is coming with charges. It’s a whole galaxy to say but we are trying to bring that whole galaxy under one regime and then have something that can be looked at. There might be a range for Row charges with a ceiling.  We hope that the IWG will do that difficult task so that by April, we could have a draft resolution that will be presented to NEC and then NEC can discuss this towards reaching an agreement. NCC hopes to do a presentation there, answer their questions and then see how we can get this done.

    What are the implications of these charges on government and telecoms end users?

    Well, I think the implications are tripartite. There are implications for the telecom industry especially and the key stakeholders, implications for the government in terms of the revenue accruing to it, in terms of the investment that comes into telecom and then that dovetails in terms of the number of people employed in the telecom industry and then we have implications for the subscriber. Let me start from the subscriber, the quality of service (customer satisfaction)  suffers because a subscriber expects that if he gets a registered line, puts credit on it, he expects to enjoy some level of satisfaction in terms of quality of service. Your call is going through, your text message is not delivered on time, and your connectivity to the internet is slow and lots more. These will persist if the operator for instance continues to have problems in deploying additional infrastructure or expanding his network because of multiple charges and right of way issue. What it means is that the operator has to or will put a lot of pressure on the system and equipment it has such that if you have a duct that only 500 calls can go through every hour and you want to expand and you cannot expand, you will now start piling 2000 calls through that duct. That leads to congestion and of course dropped calls.  You know what happens when 2000 people are trying to get into a door that was made for 500 people and of course the only reason might not be that they don’t have the permit but it is part of it, we will say we want to deploy but we cannot deploy because we’ve not been given permit but there is also something called the capital expenditure (capex). The dollar component of their commercial agreement and the rest is a major concern for operators. Some of them took loans from the banks at the rate of N195-196 to a dollar and it went to N500, N450 it’s at N360 now but we are still looking at almost twice the amount and have not been able to get out of that debt trap. It’s going to take a while so they are cutting down, they are not getting enough forex which will bring in equipment from outside. On the part of government, it affects the revenue (annual operating level) because if they are not making enough revenue, we’ll only tax them based on the volume of business they do that’s one. Two, one of the core mandates of NCC through the NCC Act 2003 is to encourage investment we have seen between 2015, 2016, 2017, we’ve seen an almost 10 per cent contribution to GDP but as the telecom industry is facing  some challenges the GDP contribution has dropped slightly. All of these affect the taxable revenue that comes to government, impact on quality of service and employment is at risk.  So, you see, it’s tripartite. It is so connected and let’s say, unless we face these challenges and solve them, it will affect the foreign direct investment (FDI) coming into the country, it will affect QoS and consumer satisfaction, it will also affect the revenue base of the operators and the taxable revenue accruable to government at different levels.

    Three years ago, Association of Licensed Telecoms Company of Nigeria (ALTON) signed an agreement with Lagos State government over the harmonisation of these charges. What is the situation? Has it become a stumbling block?

    It will not be right to say Lagos is a stumbling block and this is the narrative.  Lagos State is a bellwether for this country in several aspects. When it comes to the telecoms industry, the telecom headquarters of this country is Lagos; when it comes to population, the one single biggest population is Lagos; when it comes to the centre of business, it is Lagos; when it comes to the pace of development, it is Lagos. So Lagos does matter and like other big cities in the world, you expect that a state like Lagos in any economic engagement will like to maximise the benefit for the sake of the state. So that is what you are seeing in Lagos and rightly so.  Lagos is trying to make sure that even in engaging with the telecom industry and other similar industries as you have seen, the state wants to renegotiate the basis of agreements or review this and that. Is there a way Lagos can get more value for this engagement? That is what is happening. Now, the worry for us is that while the legitimacy of that position cannot be challenged, time is of essence. Lagos has the right to do it, but we are worried about the timeline, the pace at which it is happening. If it is not fast enough, if it is delayed willingly or unwillingly, the effect on the telecom industry and particularly the effect on the achievement of the roll out obligations in the National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2018 suffers. And there will be ripple effects. Our role is to ensure amicability and help facilitate collaboration between states like Lagos and NCC licence holders.  So what we want to see on the part of Lagos and we know that once Lagos gets it right, other states will take a cue from it, is harmonisation of positions and a partnership that works both ways.

    For the benefit of all the states of the federation let’s have this review; let us have this understanding and agreements and make sure that we hit it on an accelerated pace such that every party wins. For instance,  Lagos and any other state as the case may be, gets more value, the operators can deploy the infrastructure needed and ultimately the man on the last mile which is the consumer also gets better services. Let me give you an example, Lagos is clearly the number state in the country and its Smart City project tis on course. There is greater value in working with all the elements in the industry especially the regulator.  The smart city thing is also within the new ecosystem and  you have to ride on the back of telecom infrastructure. What is this telecom infrastructure? It’s not independent of the infrastructure of any of the operators, it’s not independent of the NCC as a regulator; it’s not independent of the quick deployment of the huge submarine cables lying at the shores in Lagos needed to create the backbone infrastructure for broadband penetration. We have Main One, SAT 1, GLO 1 just lying there at the shores. We know about six other states who have started their Smart City projects in Nigeria and are working with NCC.

    The engagement spectrum is wide; government to government, some is government to private but we are all connected. NCC will work with Lagos as with others to achieve smart city, e-government and a digital economy. So like I said, Lagos is not a stumbling block. Lagos provides that critical passage to the success of the Infraco or NBP of the Federal Government.

    Against all these odds, is the 30 per cent broadband penetration target is  still achievable?

    Well, I think as at the end of last year, we were at 23.1 per cent and we have a 2018 target. We are not where we exactly want to be. We believe that the fact that we are at 23.1 per cent now realistically has to do with some of the challenges I mentioned earlier. One of these challenges has to do with the economic environment and the steep rise in forex pricing.  Nothing indicates that more than what happened to Etisalat. Beyond the fact they took a loan of $1.2billion, dollar component was massive and taken at the rate of N195 and have to pay back at almost N400. Etisalat almost collapsed. The fact that the other big telcos were able to survive also shows the resilience of the telecom industry and its operators.  But also with that comes the fact that the rate of network expansion and the rate of deployment we expected to see has slowed down. The industry has not been able to move that fast enough with the development of backbone infrastructure for broadband penetration. Ironically, you look at our shores, we have Main One, we have Glo 1, we have Sat 1, and they are there at our shores untapped.  Other countries are saying if you are not using them give us, they are sitting there because we don’t have the backbone infrastructure to distribute.  It is a question of the backbone infrastructure. Once you have the backbone infrastructure, the broadband penetration we are talking about is going to happen. Right now, we have 270 access gaps across the country and you know what I mean by access gaps, places where you don’t have connectivity at all either internet or telephone connectivity.

  • Coollink.ng unveils broadband

    Coollink.ng, partner of Konnect Africa, launched Asta Satellite Broadband into Nigeria market. Chief Executive Officer of Coollink, Shahin Nouri, announced the launch of the brand new service that is delivering satellite broadband internet to consumers at a media parley recently in Lagos.

    The new service has been dubbed “Asta”, which means “Star” in Danish. While there are other satellite internet services available in Nigeria, Asta stands apart for numerous reasons.

    According to Abdurrahman Mubi, Senior Technical Manager at Coollink, the service is highly available and specifically tailored to the needs and demands of Nigerian consumers; it is affordable, covers the majority of the Nigerian territory and offers features such as speeds of up to 20 Mbps, data rollover and free night zone.

    “We have designed Asta to strategically meet the needs of the Nigerian market and to provide a better satellite broadband experience that is customised for the region,” says Mubi.

    Asta was soft launched in September and fully launched on November 1st by Coollink, partner of Konnect Africa, a company set up by Eutelsat in 2015. “The feedback received from consumers during the soft launch period has been highly positive and encouraging. Several clients have already replaced their terrestrial service with Asta due to the high speeds, consistency and reliability it offers,” says Mubi.

    Asta is also available for residential customers at affordable rates in areas where broadband service was inexistent. The service is delivered using antennas as small as 74 cm in diameter, which can be easily installed in the most difficult of terrains and in as little as two hours. With this move, Nigeria can expect an increase in broadband penetration which will generate employment, grant communities in remote and rural areas access to eLearning platforms and broaden SME’s customer base, among several other benefits.

    “We have registered nationwide and Africa-wide partners to ensure that Asta is available to consumers all over,” says Tayo Sadare, Service Delivery Manager at Coollink.

    “We have one of the most reliable and diverse network capabilities so you can increase up-time, improve scalability, and materialize operational efficiency. We are not your typical ISP – we own our network, we master our solutions, and always go the extra mile,” she added.

  • Airtel, Ericsson seek affordable broadband

    Airtel, Ericsson seek affordable broadband

    With over 90 per cent of the world’s population to be covered by mobile broadband networks by 2021, Airtel Nigeria and Ericsson are seeking affordable and ubiquitous broadband that will boost Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    In the second half of last year, Nigeria was among the top five countries worldwide in terms of mobile subscription additions, while Nigerian businesses are increasingly adopting mobile-first strategies.

    According to Ericsson Mobility Report Sub-Saharan Africa unveiled last year, 83 per cent of mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria rely solely on their mobile device for their internet connectivity.  To address this growing demand and increase access to affordable mobile broadband internet service, Airtel Nigeria and Ericsson are rolling out Ericsson Radio System (ERS) across the country.

    ERS’s multi-standard platform will enable the telco to cost-effectively leverage the reach, maturity and increasing affordability of 3G technology, while laying the foundation for their 4G and 5G evolution. The network-wide solution incorporates a broad range of products including: radio, baseband, small cells, backhaul, fronthaul, enclosures, power site equipment and the controller. These products are augmented through twice-yearly network software updates, and through Ericsson Global Services offerings.

    Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Ahmed Mokhles, said: “Mobile broadband access is really a prerequisite to achieving our key objective of enriching the lives and empowering the people of Nigeria to benefit both consumers and industry.  Ericsson Radio System provides the performance and efficiency to support this objective while also ensuring a future-proof evolution as Nigeria continues to establish itself as a progressive and innovative ICT-driven country.”

    By 2021, it is forecast that more than 90 per cent of the world´s population will be covered by mobile broadband networks.  Meanwhile, cost points for entry-level cellular devices reduced by 85 per cent over the last 10 years.  This increasing device affordability addresses the major barrier to entry and is achieved through the global economies of scale enabled by cellular standards.

    Head of Business Unit Radio, Ericsson, Arun Bansal, said:  “Airtel Nigeria and their customers are directly benefitting from the performance and efficiency innovations designed in to the Ericsson Radio System – network-wise, its future-proof multi-standard platform ensures a smooth evolution, while its compact, modular design reduces operating costs enabling Airtel Nigeria to offer more affordable mobile broadband access today.

    “Ericsson Radio System has already won both the Global Mobile Award for Best Mobile Infrastructure and the Red Dot Award for Product Design, but it is the recognition of our key customers like Airtel Nigeria that matters the most.”

    Ericsson Radio System was launched at MWC 2015, and started shipping to customers in Q3 2015.  Its innovative rail system enables the Ericsson Radio System to adapt to any site, with zero floor footprint and easy one-bolt installation while its modular, compact and energy efficient radios reduce both operating and capital expenses, delivering three times the capacity density with 50 per cent improvement in energy efficiency.  As operators, such as Airtel Nigeria, strive to deliver the best possible performance and quality of experience in the most cost-efficient way, Ericsson Radio System’s multi-standard, multi-band, multi-layer architecture supports their requirements today and on the road to 5G.

    Ericsson has also launched software and hardware innovations, including Intelligent Antenna Sharing, aimed at lowering the cost of mobile broadband access, and a Managed Rural Coverage services offering focused specifically on addressing the economic challenges of delivering mobile broadband access to rural areas.

  • ‘NigComSat ‘ll boost broadband penetration’

    The Managing Director, Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), Mrs. Abimbola Alale, has said the firm will continue to champion the provision of affordable and ubiquitous broadband for economic growth.

    According to her, if well supported by the government and patronised by local and foreign organisations, the satellite technology firm will provide broadband links to people who could not be reached with fibre cables.

    Alale, however, noted that though NigComSat-1, which was reported to have been lost in space in 2007 after 18 months of operation was only de-orbited because of technical challenges especially power supply, the new NigComSat-1R is a direct replica of it with similar functions.

    According to her, NigComSat-1R launched in 2011 was built from the proceeds of the fully insured NigComSat-1 without any additional cost to the federal government.

    She maintained that NigComSat-1R, which has been in space in the past four years would support the activities of China Great Wall Industries Corporation (CGWIC), by providing necessary facilities to test communication payload of the Belintersat-1 Satellite, recently launched in China, over Africa using its ground station infrastructure located in Abuja.

    She further stated that besides other traditional services to various institutions including universities in the country, banks, security agencies, and the Republic of Gabon for the tracking of its rail system, NigComSat-1R facilities could also be deployed to perfect the country’s e-voting system ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    She, however, said this could only be made possible if there was a collaboration between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and NigComSat Limited.

    She said Nigerian engineers are now fully in charge of NigComSat-1R, describing the system as “a high-powered, hybrid (L, C, Ku and Ka Band) geostationary satellite with service life span of at least 15 years and an orbital location of 42.5 degrees east.”

    According to her, the satellite was built with radiation-hardened technology, high reliability, on-board software re-programme ability, fault tolerance and redundant amplifiers. NigComSat-1R’s payload has active and 12 redundant transponders.

    Contrary to fears being expressed in some quarters, the management of the firm  said the satellite resources are primed to help the nation to accelerate robust ICT infrastructure to boost economic development for the country.

    “As an organisation, we are committed to using the country’s satellite resources towards developing the needed infrastructure platform for engendering overall economic development,” Head, Public Affairs of NigComSat, Mr. Adamu Idris, said.

    Already, the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, has said that in the current Communications Sector Roadmap for 2016-2019, satellite resources owned by Nigeria will play a critical role in catalysing broadband growth, as it will be put into full usage to the benefits of the country’s economic growth.

    With just 10 per cent broadband penetration in the country, Nigeria’s satellites resources both existing and soon-to-be-acquired, would be put into playing even greater role in the country as the country braces to acheive the targets of the National Broadban Plan (NBP).

  • NCC prepares licences for five broadband firms

    NCC prepares licences for five broadband firms

    The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday in Lagos, said its preparations for the licensing of five new broadband infrastructure companies (Infracos) has reached an advanced stage, adding that before the end of the first quarter of this year, the licencees will emerge.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Prof Umar Dambatta who spoke during his maiden press conference at Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikekja, said a committee to handle the award of the licences has already been constituted in the Commission.

    Prof Dambatta who unveiled what he termed his “Eight Point Agenda for 2015-2020” said the pillars will ride on a tripod of three ‘As” which represent availability of service; accessibility of service; and affordability of service in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s change agenda, an ideological shift in the creation of structures for social benefits and inclusiveness for national development.

    He said ubiquitous broadband provision is very important. He said while two Infracos have already been licenced to provide services in Lagos and the Northeast, the remaining five other geopolitical zones will be captured in the next licensing round.

    He said though not much is going on in the deployment of services in the two licensed zones, the Commission has invited MainOne which won the Lagos licence for discussion while HIS which won the Northeast licence will be engaged in meaningful discussion to drive the implementation of the National Broadband Plan of the Federal Government, grow sector contribution to national gross domestic product (GDP), create jobs and enhance good life for the citizens of the country.

  • ‘Broadband ‘ll drive Nigeria’s GDP growth’

    The Chief Executive Officer, West Africa’s leading broadband communications provider, MainOne, Ms Funke Opeke has said broadband penetration will drive Nigeria’s growth, urging further collaboration in the industry in order to provide broadband connectivity services to more of the Nigerian populace.

    She stressed the need for stakeholders to jointly address the challenges of low broadband penetration as a community of concerned parties with benefits from improvement poised to accrue to all.

    Speaking at a Broadband Summit held at the WheatBaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos with Driving Accelerated Broadband Penetration in Nigeria as focus, she said:”The Broadband Summit provides a platform for the telecom industry to articulate its perspectives on the landscape, and devise strategies that will hasten broadband penetration in Nigeria.”

    She called on all stakeholders in the industry and the government to take necessary steps towards achieving the massive infrastructure rollout required to bring broadband services to more Nigerians, stressing the role of broadband in driving GDP growth in the economies of developing countries.

    The summit which featured major industry players including mobile network operators and the country’s telecoms regulator, reviewed the country’s current broadband status and brainstormed strategies to achieve more effective and pervasive broadband coverage across the country.

     

  • Phase3 is Pan African Broadband for Enterprise Solutions Provider of the year

    Phase3 is Pan African Broadband for Enterprise Solutions Provider of the year

    west Africa’s largest independent fibre optic infrastructure and telecoms services provider, Phase3 Telecom has added another award to its local and international awards and recognitions with its emergence as Pan African Broadband for Enterprise Solution Provider of the Year at Technology Africa’s ‘Titans of Tech’ 2015 Awards.

    Phase3 Chief Executive Officer – Mr. Stanley Jegede said: “We are grateful for the outpouring of recognition and support from the region and international community for our vision to ensure the sustainable development of Africa through the provision of the most reliable telecommunications services. Speedy broadband penetration is a major focus to what we do and we will continue to ensure that the region enjoys quality of service, reliability and exceptional customer experience as we continue on this journey.”

    Jegede maintains that the company hopes to continue to deliver on the promises made to its clients, partners and the industry.This is particularly in the area of network expansion in West Africa as well as investment in communications technology that enables its clients to share critical and big data within a secure, reliable and scalable infrastructure.

    According to the Managing Consultant for Titans of Tech 2015, Mr. Pedro Aganbi,  Phase3’s win is well deserved after going through a rigorous voting exercise against top contenders including Computer Warehouse Group, Signal Alliance, Resourcery and Business Connexion; to come out as the preferred enterprise broadband services provider. He stated that the company’s unique approach to amplifying regional connectivity puts the customer’s need first thus gaining a strong market niche with discerning corporate customers.

    The organisers believe that Phase3 has demonstrated time and again that it is committed to enhancing the availability of fast and reliable internet to the unserved and underserved parts of the West Africa Sub-region through investment in infrastructure and human capital. More so; the company’s recent opinion pieces in influential national dailies prove that its strategic insight and blueprint for Africa’s telecommunications industry is achievable, sustainable and key to eradicating the current digital divide.

     

  • Nigeria requires $200b to develop broadband infrastructure

    Nigeria needs $200 billion to build and develop the requisite broadband infrastructure required to take the nation to the next level between now and 2019.

    KPMG’s Partner, Management Consulting, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, who spoke at an international forum to woo investors to the nation’s broadband sector, said over the past years, the country has witnessed massive investment, adding that the explosion in data brought about by the growth in the social media space has catalsyed the growth in broadband infrastructure in the country.

    He said in the micro wave and optic fibre infrastructure provision space, Nigeria has demonstrated a readiness to accommodate foreign investors who would only be required to plug into the existing infrastructure, adding however that there is still limited coverage.

    “In the metropolitan transmission ring, what you see is limited coverage. Only about 10 per cent of the cities and towns are covered today. Moving to the homes, we have extremely limited coverage. These two top layers provide a huge opportunity and gap in the broadband supply chain

    “For investors in this room, an estimated $200billion is required annually over the next five years to meet this infrastructure gaps. Nigeria offers the best returns on investments, according to recent studies,” Africa Telecoms & IT, quoted Tegbe as saying at a forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    According to Tegbe, the Open Access Model of making broadband ubiquitous being championed by the regulator aligns with the Federal Government’s National Broadband Plan, stressing that over the past years, the diversity and growth in the information communications technology (ICT) sector has been due largely to the regulatory environment which has been friendly to investment.

    He emphasised on the market potential of Nigeria which would always assure return on investment (RoI) to investors, adding that the World Bank has projected that the country’s population will overtake that of the United States (U.S) and even going to be the third largest populated country in the world next to China and India.

    Said Tegbe: “Interestingly, the World Bank has projected that Nigeria will surpass the U.S in population by 2050 and most likely to become the third largest population by 2050 after China and India with a population of about 460 million people. That represents the size of the population that the investors have the opportunity of exploring.”

    He said investors stood to gain incentives such as tax holiday and pioneer status in addition to a ready-made market as a result of the large population and current low spread of broadband which is also a potential high growth market because of the expansive uptake of smart devices in the country.

    He recalled that in less than three years, the Nigerian market had grown from being N162million in 2011 to N150billion to date, adding that it is the evidence of the widespread demand for broadband internet service. “Just in less than three years, this market has grown from N162million in 2011 to N150billion to date. This is evidence of the widespread demand for broadband internet service in Nigeria,” he said.

    Tegbe expressed confidence that with improved infrastructure spurred by foreign direct investment (FDI) that the market has the capacity for substantial growth in the next couple of years. He lamented that with existing gap between supply and demand in the broadband infrastructure across the country, the question whether the supply can match the demand, arguing that there are some gaps in the broadband market in Nigeria.

    According to him, there is already a glut in undersea cables in the country but lamented the absence of complementary hinterland and metropolitan fibre network usually referred to as middle mile and last mile.

    “We have currently about four submarine cables in Nigeria with terabytes capacity which only few countries in the world can actually match,” he said.

  • Dearth of spectrum threatens broadband plan targets

    Lack of spectrum to drive the penetration of wireless broadband may scuttle the short, medium and long term ambition of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) of the Federal Government, The Nation has gathered.

    Under the NBP, for cities, accessibility through wired medium currently (2013) stands at 1.3 per cent with short term goal (2015) of 10 per cent, medium term (2018) 18 per cent and long term target (2020) of 25 per cent. For penetration, the current level stands at 0.3per cent while short term goal is 3.3per cent, medium; 5.3 per cent while long term is 8.3 per cent.

    For national target, availability through wireless currently stands at 33 per cent, with short, medium and long term targets of 60, 80 and 95 per cent respectively. For penetration or usage, it currently stands at 6 per cent with short, medium and long term ambition of 21, 42 and 76 per cent respectively.

    But one of the frequencies that will make this happen are still with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and there is no indication that it will be freed up soon to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for auctioning to operators.

    According to sources, the spectrum is called 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) and it ranges from 2.5GHz to 2.69Ghz. The source before now, it was used by the NBC licensed operators who are licensed to do Muti-channel Multi-point Distribution System (MDDS).

    MDDS is defined as a wireless system consists that of head-end equipment (equipment for satellite signal reception, radio transmitter, other broadcast equipment, and transmission antenna) and reception equipment at each subscriber location (antenna, frequency conversion device, and set-top device). MMDS transmits on Super High Frequency (SHF) microwave frequencies and can be encoded for pay-for-view and subscriber services, all from studio facility.

    According to the source, by the time the allocation was made at the international Telecommunications Union (ITU) for the frequency to also be used for International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT), the NCC contacted the National Frequency Management Committee (NFMC) and which requested the NCC and NBC to work out the modalities for the release of the band. A committee was subsequently formed for that purpose.

    According to ITU, “long term evolution (LTE)-Advanced and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced. Advanced systems include new capabilities that go beyond IMT-2000, widely deployed since 2000 and referred to as 3G mobile technologies. ITU has now specified the standards for IMT-Advanced, the next-generation global wireless broadband communications that provide access to a wide range of packet-based telecommunication services supported by mobile and fixed networks.

    Director, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Dr Nwaulume Augustine confirmed that indeed a committee has been put in place but unsure whether it will get the spectrum freed for the NCC. He said: “That committee is still working. I don’t know if it is possible for the licence to be auctioned this year based on the fact that not so much progress has been made with regard to getting it freed from those users.

    “But I am very sure that by the first or second quarter of next year, something would have happened because it is very important.  It is very vital to wireless broadband,” He spoke on the sideline at a capacity training forum for journalists in Lagos.