As Nigeria grapples with the challenge of becoming a major economic bloc by year 2020, the need to wire the economy, through improved broadband services has become imperative. Consequently, experts have called for policy intervention. ADEYEMI ADEPETUN writes.A WORLD Bank study has revealed that in low and middle-income countries, every 10-percentage point increase in broadband penetration accelerates growth by 1.38 percent'more than in high-income countries and more for other telecommunications services.Similar study by Mckinsey and Company estimated that a 10 per cent increase in broadband household penetration delivers a boost to a country's GDP that ranges from 0.1 to 1.4 per cent. It added that a 10 per cent higher broadband penetration in a specific year is correlated to 1.5 per cent greater labour productivity growth over the following five years.Beside, the World Bank study disclosed that, countries with improved broadband access have in place sustainable policies, which have helped to accelerate deployment and grow their economies. While enjoining emerging markets to take a cue from this and implement policies for transformation, it emphasised the need foer widespread access to information sources supports economic activity and good governance.As such, this was the centre point of the recently held fora on broadband development in Nigeria. The first, which was the Accenture Broadband forum, focused on the economic implications of broadband deployment. The second was the yearly West African Information and Communications Technology Congress (WAFICT), which is in it fourth year now, organised by IT & Telecoms Digest magazine, with the theme: 'Bridging West Africa's Digital Divide Through Broadband'According to experts, who brainstormed at the fora, countries, communities, corporations and individuals that lack easy access to broadband may miss economic and social opportunities. They submitted that broadband cities attracts more services firms and so create more jobs than their narrowband counterparts, adding that broadband remains a key driver of economic growth and national competitiveness.Nigeria's Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson was quick to say as part of efforts going forward, one of the key goal in the country's broadband agenda is to achieve one national network capable of delivering broadband speeds of not less than 50 per cent of the average speeds available worldwide at the consumer end within the next five years.Johnson said despite the fact that Nigeria has Internet penetration of 28 per cent, representing 45 million Internet users, only nine per cent, totaling 14.5 million people of the population are actually subscribers and broadband penetration is at a mere six per cent.According to her, 'Even though access to broadband using mobile phones is increasing, what this statistics tells us is that most Nigerians still access the Internet through public venues. This is as result of not the lack of ubiquity of broadband network but the cost of access.'Today, we have one of the highest costs of access in the world at approximately 8k to 10k for 5Mbs of data. The average speed of access is still very low. In fact, recent statistics that I looked at has us as one of the lowest speeds in Africa.'Highlighting the necessary steps to be taken for increasing broadband access and speed, the minister said there was need to encourage and enforce the principle of open access or infrastructure sharing to already built transmission networks in order to facilitate an integrated national backbone; and expand the build out to achieve point of presence in all local councils.In his Keynote presentation at WAFICT, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah said the commission was boosting penetration in Nigeria through the adoption of the 'Open Access Model' for broadband deployment. This model, according to the EVC, provides a framework for sophisticated infrastructure sharing. 'This structure will ensure vibrancy in the market and prevent dominance as no company will be allowed to play in more than two of the service layers and the equity participation in bidding consortiums for the licenses will be controlled,' he said.Besides, he said the commission would issue licenses in the passive and active layers while price cap would be implemented in these layers using cost based pricing. Juwah added that multiple licences would also be issued in the retail layer with pricing to end users determined by market forces.'To enable service delivery at affordable prices for the end-user, where it may not be economically viable to do so, the Commission will offer financial incentives to the infrastructure providers to enable them operate reasonably profitably,' the EVC added.For broadband implementation, Juwah said the Commission has already concluded preliminary studies that would enable cost effective deployment through effective policy implementation. 'In this process, we have developed a model for the deployment and have engaged reputable internationally acclaimed consultants to drive strategy and design the process for achieving our goals' he said.Speaking on 'Accelerating Broadband penetration through Policy Intervention', newly elected President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi challenged all stakeholders in the ICT industry to take the issue of broadband serious by putting in place the entire necessary infrastructure.According to him, Nigeria already has international infrastructure with the arrival of the fibre optic cables in the country, however, the main challenge to be tackled remain the national infrastructure and last mile connectivity.Ajayi, who called for both broadband and computer penetration goals, stressed that deployment in Nigeria is still challenged by lack of adequate national transmission backbone and unavailability and spectrum for last mile connectivity, which must be urgently addressed. He said policy must be put in place to achieve this.The Director General, National Information Technology Agency of Nigeria (NITDA), Dr. Cleopas Angaye, said there was need for a comprehensive 'Broadband Policy' with requisite strategic plan for implementation.He said the policy thrust, which should be vigorously pursued with appropriate timeline and milestones should be taken up by the ECOWAS regional body, which should encourage all member nations to implement at their own pace bearing in mind their financial capabilities and other socio-economic and political factors.Angaye's advocacy comes at the backdrop of the existence of several fibre optic submarine cables (the Glo I, the Main One and WACS) that are targeted at the sub region.Also the imperative of growing common market and bilateral relations within the region has made it necessary for a common network of telecommunication platform to drive information sharing and payment systems.According to him, the use of ICTs in all stages of Human Resource development in West African educational sector should be promoted in attempts to create a globally competitive manpower, while every literate Nigerian should be accorded the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in order to understand, participate actively in, and benefit fully from the Information Society and the knowledge economy.He said efforts should also be geared at developing examinable ICTs curricula for primary and secondary schools and regular review of the universities, polytechnics and other training outfits (both in the private and public sector) as demanded by the rapid changes in the ICT industry hence the graduates would adequately prepared for the emerging ICT industry, which has very crucial demand of skilled manpower.Meanwhile, Accenture's Senior Partner, Communications and High Tech Practice, Stuart Orr, who called for accelerated implementation of broadband programmes in Nigeria, emphasized that it was important for Nigeria to accelerate the deployment of broadband for the country to take advantage of its GDP contribution of about 10 per cent.Though the fastest way to achieve broadband access is through wireless technology, according to him, adequate spectrum is required to make this possible.Orr warned that the digital migration would not happen until 2015 and called on the Federal Government and other ICT stakeholders to begin the implementation of the broadband programme now.'He said, 'I think everyone knows what to do here regarding broadband; it's the implementation that is the hardest part. The undersea cables have arrived and the capacity is there. The main issue is how to get that capacity out to the cities and the suburbs. That is where stakeholders in the country's ICT industry should focus now. A national broadband programme will help in this regard but that is probably one or two years away.'Orr said there was a strong correlation between a country's broadband penetration and its economic and social development, stressing that many developing nations had active broadband policies.According to him, government policies concerning competition's regulation play a key role in shaping the structure and size of the telecoms industry in any country.Orr said for economies, such as Nigeria, there was the need to stimulate demand by encouraging companies (both public and private sector) to adopt the broadband technologies.Also, the Senior Director, Management Consulting, Accenture, Mr. Usen Udoh, said one of the greatest potential Nigeria might be sitting on was broadband.'We believe there are a lot of opportunities for everybody. Not just Nigerians but foreign investors and if they see that we have the right kind of environment, they can come and invest,' he said.He, however, lamented that Nigeria might already be late in the broadband game; adding that the fear now was for the country not to lose focus required to achieve the broadband potential.Meanwhile, the Editor-in-Chief, IT & Telecom Digest, the organiser of WAFICT, Mr. Mkpe Abang, called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency for broadband deployment.Abang argued that the country had conquered voice telephony and there was the urgent need to accelerate broadband deployment for the nest phase of the country's telecoms revolution.
Click here to read full news..
