At the 10th anniversary of the Telecoms Consumer Parliament
held in Lagos, at the weekend, it was a time for operators, while keying
into the Federal Government’s vision of five-fold increase in broadband
penetration by 2017, to sell their possible offerings to subscribers.
ADEYEMI ADEPETUN was there.
ADVANCES in technology have elevated the importance of the Internet in economic development and citizens’ empowerment. The availability, quality, and competitiveness of broadband service have become and will continue to be a key issue for many locations.
Broadband service connects businesses and individuals to the global marketplace. It has flattened the world by allowing businesses to communicate and collaborate in ways never before possible due to the increase in the amount of information that can be transferred at faster speeds and new software technology made possible by its bandwidth.
While many dial-up plans charge for minutes used, broadband is always on and can be less expensive due to unlimited usage and, in certain locations, competitive market. The difference in speed saves companies money when considering the increased productivity.
Today, it is no more news that people want to live where there is broadband service, simply because among other benefits, it improves the manner in which health care and many public services are delivered. Moreover, it has become an essential quality-of-life amenity for many as it opens new doors to entertainment and communication options like downloading or streaming movies and television shows directly to a computer or TV, accessing music through applications like iTunes, and video conferencing through applications like Skype or Facetime.
Broadband allows for a more flexible lifestyle by providing greater access to education through distance learning programs or remote employment.
In recognition of these immense benefits broadband can deliver, the Federal Government, in the National Broadband Plan (NBP) has set a five-fold increase in broadnand penetration in Nigeria.
It is interesting to note that broadband penetration in the country is still at six per cent, though latest subscriber statistics said Nigeria currently has about 62 million Internet users. This has been majorly achieved through the mobile revolution in the country, but the fibre to home has been a major challenge. Though some operators including IPNX are working to get this done, it has been discovered that government must be at the fore front of this campaign.
So, it was interesting to see the Federal Government through the Nigerian Communications Communications Commission (NCC) and some private operators including MainOne Cables; MTN; Globacom; Etisalat; Airtel at the 10 anniverssary of the Telecoms Consumer Parliament share their experience going forward.
With the theme, ‘Broadband Penetration: An Imperative for National Development,’ NCC said the theme was very apt especially at this point in time when it was focusing a great deal of attention in facilitating and promoting broadband revolution in the country.
NCC to ensure penetration through Open Access Model
Acknowledging the role of broadband to national development, the Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the Federal Government had taken several steps including the articulation of a national broadband plan as well as continually taking steps at providing an enabling environment for the development of infrastructure that would support the growth and access to broadband services at affordable cost to consumers.
Juwah informed that the framework to support the broadband infrastructure had been fully articulated and was being implemented by the commission as reflected in the Open Access model adopted for the country.
According to him, the recent successful auctioning of one slot of 20 MHz bandwidth in the 2.3 GHz spectrum in February this year, is a step towards the successful rollout of broadband services through the open access framework in Nigeria.
He said, “in the drive towards the provision of pervasive broadband infrastructure, challenges do exist. Some of these are issues of Right of Way, multiple regulations, multiple taxation by several government agencies, vandalism of telecoms infrastructure, and security challenges in some areas of the country.”
The economic impact of broadband, he said, was positive as shown from studies of the World Bank, which showed that 10 per cent points increase in broadband penetration leads to a 1.38 per cent in Gross Domestic Product.
The NCC boss said, “although, this percentage appears small but if you relate it to the trillion Naira national GDP, the increase is quite enormous.
“The impact of broadband penetration on national development is immense. It stimulates economic growth, increases productivity, and provides citizens access to government activities”, he stated.
Broadband drive from operators’ perspective
Accelerating penetration, MainOne Cable Regulatory Manager, Kemi Adeyanju proposed massive infrastructure penetration, stressing that last mile connectivity must be developed if the NBP targets must be actualized.
According to her, while MainOne has been in the frontline championing penetration through the landing of its sub marine cable, the impact of broadband lies in the optic. She said already, the firm has been providing bandwidth to tertiary institutions and government establishment across the country, stressing that more will be done because the capacity is very much with MainOne.
For Globacom’s Isa Aremu, the telecommunications firm will in the next one year, deploy backbone fibre with redundancy across all the states capitals; create hot spots (fibre to home); take metro fibre to major cities; assist universities with bandwidth facilities through its Glo1 and enhance 3G across the country.
While the promises rage on, MTN believed that the forces of demand and supply will be a major contending issue in the drive towards broadband revolution.
Acknowledging the fact that broadband is like electricity critical to enhancing e-application initiatives like e-health, which enhances the delivery of health care service to citizens; e -Commerce, which enhances the delivery of business activities; e – education, which provides access to knowledge and learning to citizens; and e-Banking, which provides financial access to all, MTN’s Nigeria’s Corporate Service Executive, Akinwale Goodluck said the opportunities are very wide, especially for an emerging market like Nigeria.
However, Goodluck was quick to say that government must be at the forefront to champion the course by providing an enabling environment, operators and private sector cannot do it alone.
Already, he said MTN has invested in microwave backbone; laid fibre across the country and had since 2006 offered Nigeria 3G services, “going forward, we believe we are positioned for 4G/LTE to drive further growth. We are and will continue to help the youths in developing apps; share resources with universities and accelerate eCommerce growth in the country.”
Goodluck said broadband must be seen as a social capital, stressing that broadband holds 10 times what voice offers now.
For the Regulatory Affiars Director at Airtel Nigeria, Osondu Nwokoro, who restated that the telecommunications firm is committed to the NBP, said that the firm was already working ahead with coverage of 3G and 3.75G across major cities in the country.
Besides, he said Airtel is currently considering running several test on 4G/LTE; partnered Cross-River on eHealth; Lagos on eLearning. He said the firm currently works with some OEMs to push out devices that will drive broadband penetration.
Speaking on behalf of Etisalat Nigeria, the Regulatory Affairs Director, Ibrahim Dikko said the telecommunications firm, which is just over five years in the country has invested much in the country’s coverage, including terrestrial fibre to drive growth of broadband penetration and has instituted innovation prizes to drive creativity, stressing that the firm would do more as time goes on.
Challenges seeking urgent attention
Dikko was emphatic that telecommunications firms must not be seen as a cash cow by states and their agencies, stressing that they must see operators as patners in progress. He said policies must be set right for broadband penetration.
Like Dikko, Adeyanju asked government to provide protection for telecommunications infrastructure both on land and in the waters.
From MTN’s perspective, Goodluck said digital adoption is faster in emerging markets compared to developed countries, “so it is high time right policies are in place to prevent any future challenge.”
Goodluck, Nwokoro and Aremu shared same industry challenges including right of way policies in some states; fibre cuts; multiple taxation and regulations and above all poor electricity supply.
The Airtel Director was also quick to say that to facilitate usage, government must lead in patronage, stressing that apathy to Nigerian made goods is a limitation to broadband expansion.
Consumers skeptical
With government and operators promising to deliver broadband services as targeted, there are sorts of skepticism from consumers.
A Barrister, Ikechukwu Clement, who spoke to The Guardian said the promise of improved broadband penetration is a dream. “I don’t think they are ready. The voice services they offer is full of hitches—drop calls; wrong connection; illegal credit deductions among others still bed evil this service. Some of them claim to offer 3G services, but it takes 30 minutes to have a successful download and they are targeting five-fold increase in penetration. I wish them well.
“I am skeptical about all these promises. They will need to do more to convice the consumers”, he stressed.
At the forum, a web developer, Muyideen Muhammed carpeted Globacom, saying that data offering through the dongle has remained a problem, “to download is problem, to upload is a task. I don’t see any one of them ready for this improvement.”
According to the Co-ordinator of Leadership Watch, Iwanyanwu Martins, there is a doubt about 2G service offerings by these operators not to talk of 3G or 4G.
Source: guardiannews.com