The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), yesterday at the eWorld Forum on Broadband at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, gives reasons why it will always support any initiative aimed at improving broadband penetration in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who gave the reasons, noted that broadband has been globally acknowledged as the foundation for transformation to a knowledge-based economy, given the World Bank acknowledgement that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration in developing countries results in a commensurable increase of 1.38 percent in GDP.
“It has also been proven that for every 10 percent increase in Broadband penetration, a commensurate increase in employment of 2-3 percent is achieved. Productivity also increases to between 5-10 percent with a 10 percent increase in Broadband penetration,” it said.
Danbatta, who was represented by Engr. Oluwatoyin Asaju, Deputy Director, Administration at NCC, added that it is almost impossible to equate any other modern technological tool with Broadband, because of its inherent potential to address issues relating to sustainable development and simultaneously facilitate socioeconomic development, while instigating transformative change in all the sectors of the economy.
Knowing this, he said informs the continuous doggedness of the NCC in ensuring that the lacuna between the existing and planned fibre infrastructure in Nigeria is narrowed.
He said, in order to address this gap, the Commission has therefore set a strategic imperative to ensure access to pervasive Broadband through an Open Access Model in line with the National Broadband Plan. This was one of the initial strategic actions of the Federal Government, through the Commission, in Nigeria’s journey towards facilitating the availability, affordability and accessibility to Broadband infrastructure and services.
According to the NCC, the deployment of the Optic Fiber transmission network has been adopted in the “Open Access Model” to bridge the current digital gap and deliver fast and reliable broadband services to households and businesses and the success of this model is evident in the tremendous growth witnessed in the provision of broadband services by all major players in the industry through one technology or the other.
As at the 1st quarter of this year, Nigeria achieved 33.08 percent Broadband penetration, thus 63 million Nigerians are presently connected to broadband internet services. This is an encouraging leap from the 8.5% penetration in 2015.