Ben Uzor Jr
Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the country is suffering great losses in terms of untapped wealth, employment and value creation prospects, on account of the failure of telecom operators to deliver the broadband data and internet capacity available on the coast, to the hinterland via land-line networks. Juwah, who spoke with Business Day at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, said this failure had made nonsense of the number of submarine cable systems on the country’s coastline, which had significantly reduced the cost of wholesale bandwidth capacity.
Emphasising the losses accruing from the failure to deliver significant broadband internet services to the hinterland, Juwah observed that for every 10 percent increase in broadband delivery, a country would enjoy a 1 percent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “The majority of broadband we have now is through mobile networks. We have very little practical broadband on fixed networks. We cannot make appreciable progress in broadband without first of all treating our fixed-line broadband infrastructure. “Actually, the reason why mobile broadband in Nigeria is not working too well, is because there is no fixed broadband infrastructure. There is no in-land fibre to backhaul all this capacity back to their various switches.”
Juwah observed that operators were reluctant to invest heavily in fixed broadband infrastructure because voice services were still profitable. For this reason, he said the NCC has decided to create a broadband-focused infrastructure sector. According to him, “building good fixed broadband infrastructure will impact on the quality of service of operators because they can now backhaul their traffic, which is what they have been doing now using microwave. “Microwave is a thin route and very unreliable. The NCC is making a regulatory intervention into the provision of fixed broadband, so that an infrastructure sector is created which includes within itself, a sophisticated sharing of resources.
“This is not a question of an operator monopolising it and charging very high prices as is evident right now.” He said the NCC was prepared to put government funds in the infrastructure sector to ensure that the end-point prices come down, in order to ensure that internet access is available to the entirety of Nigerians at affordable cost. “My administration is really focused on developing broadband for employment creation. I am strongly looking at this issue from a policy and implementation standpoint. We are also looking at killer applications for broadband.”
Nigeria, according to analysts at the congress, missed a great opportunity due to the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL’s) inability to massively deploy fixed lines when other development-focused nations of the world, such as the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) did. Whilst it is true that the mobile phone has attained high penetration and usage, for many homes, businesses and companies, according to analysts, there exist, a yawning need for basic fixed line access, with its numerous advantages. By year 2000, NITEL could only put in 400,000 connected telephone lines and 25,000 analogue mobile lines. The total teledensity stood at a paltry 0.4 lines per 100 inhabitants.
By the end of 2011, according to the NCC, Nigeria has attained over 90 million lines .The NCC is however conscious of the importance of fixed lines infrastructure in broadband deployment. This, according to analysts explains why the Juwah-led administration is looking to revive the segment by providing the enabling environment for private investors to expand the country’s broadband infrastructure. Statistics show that fixed-line telephone users make up less than 1 percent of the total subscriber base. Opportunity exists there, for growth in broadband communication as demand for data services grows.
First published on Business Day Media on Friday, 02 March 2012.
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