By The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has finalized negotiations on the Counterpart Funding to INFRACOS to support the deployment of the broadband infrastructures on which the Smart Services and other emerging technologies will be hosted.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta who made this known at the opening session of the First Digital Africa Week organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and hosted by the NCC in the Nigerian capital city, Abuja.
He said that the move is part of the conscious efforts of the NCC in the pervasive broadband penetration for actualizing deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices ad Smart Services in the economy.
According to him, the Commission has developed a framework to facilitate the deployment of broadband infrastructure in the country.
Danbatta said that the NCC framework for broadband infrastructure has led to the licensing of six infrastructure companies (Infracos) for North East, North West, South East, South West, South-South and Lagos adding that 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.
The infracos will deploy metro and intercity fibre and broadband point of access with a minimum capacity of 10 gigabits 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 said: “Nigeria has not only achieved but exceeded the 30% penetration target set by the National Broadband Plan (NBP) (2013 – 2018) and at the end of July 2019, our broadband penetration stood at 33.72%,” he further submitted, adding that the NCC will continue to work hard to ensure that all citizens of Nigeria have access to affordable broadband connection irrespective of location.
According to Danbatta, the digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government is anchored on Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of broadband.
To actualize full expeditious action on the broadband penetration across the states of Nigeria, “we have put in place Broadband Implementation Committee (BIMC) to monitor full implementation of the INFRACO Projects within the four-year implementation plan,” he said.
Danbatta commended the ITU for giving NCC, on behalf of Nigeria the opportunity to host the 1st Digital African Week, saying that it underscores the recognition of NCC as the regulator leading the digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria as a leading ICT player in the continent.
The 1st Digital African Week is running side by side with ITU-T Study Group 20 and Study Group 5 Regional Group, and Smart Sustainable Africa and Forum on Human Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs).
