International Communities Commend Nigeria on Broadband Initiative

International communities have applauded Nigeria for the successes she has attained in repositioning her technology space, through the broadband initiative.

To this end, the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), recently ranked Nigeria number two on the Broadband Affordability Index, at the just concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The A4AI is a global coalition of private sector, public sector, and civil society organisations that have come together from different countries of the world to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line Internet in developing countries.

A4AI works to catalyse policy change in order to drive down the cost of broadband and unlock rapid gains in Internet penetration rates across the globe, by partnering govern- ments, companies, policy makers to deliver open competitions and innovative broadband markets.

Executive Director of A4AI, Sonia Jorge, who spoke at the recognition event in Barcelona, said he was pleased with the strong leadership and regulation of the Nigerian broadband industry, its robust broadband strategy, effective competition in the telecommunications sector, efficient spectrum allocation, universal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.

Part of the report on Nigeria as presented by Jorge, read: “Nigeria comes second in the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies, scoring higher than other African developing economies like Kenya, Morocco and Uganda, and higher even than some emerging economies, including Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Tunisia. The backbone