NCC Restates Commitment to Increased Broadband Penetration

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assured Nigerians of pervasive broadband penetration, irrespective of location.

The Commission said it was conscious of the pivotal role greater broadband penetration would play in actualising deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and Smart Services in any economy, while assuring Nigerians that it has developed a framework to facilitate the deployment of broadband infrastructure in the country.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, dropped the hint on Tuesday at the opening session of the First Digital Africa Week organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and hosted by the NCC in Abuja.

Danbatta told the gathering of global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts, that the NCC framework for broadband infrastructure has led to the licensing of six infrastructure companies for North East, North West, South East, South West, South-South and Lagos.

The process for licensing a seventh InfraCo for the North Central including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has been concluded and the licence ready for award very soon, Danbatta said.

The InfraCos are mandated to deploy metro and intercity fibre and broadband point of access with a minimum capacity of 10 gigabyte per second (10 Gbps) across the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria.

“With the development of Smart Cities Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by the ITU, it is imperative to have a pervasive and ubiquitous broadband infrastructure across all our towns and cities to achieve the objectives of making them Smart,” Danbatta said.

He told the experts that “Nigeria has not only achieved but exceeded the 30 per cent penetration target set by the National Broadband Plan (NBP) (2013 – 2018) and at the end of June 2019, our broadband penetration stood at 33.31 per cent.” He further submitted that the NCC would continue to work hard to ensure that all citizens of Nigeria have access to affordable broadband connection irrespective of location.

This assurance, according to Danbatta, was based, “on the digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government anchored on Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of broadband.”

To actualise full expeditious action on the broadband penetration across the states of Nigeria, “we have put in place