A MAJOR investment of about $20 billion would be required in the next four years by Nigeria to boost broadband deployment in the country.This investment would not only expand broadband deployment in the country, but would also position Nigeria strategically, as it prepares to join the league of developed economies of the world through her Vision 20:2020 developmental goals.The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who disclosed this at the weekend in Lagos, explained that to achieve a target of 80 per cent mobile, and 12 per cent broadband penetration, the country required at least another strategically about $20 billion over the next four years, which would be an average of N600 billion yearly.The minister, who recalled that approximately about $21 billion had been invested in the telecoms sector of Nigeria and had resulted in 60 per cent mobile, and six per cent broadband penetration in the last few years, noted that development had to be more geographically diffused. She stressed that the current broadband infrastructure investments had been along the same lucrative commercial corridors and routes.She said that for Nigeria to begin to make impact in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) world, the country needed significant improvements in broadband deployment, stressing that the import of the ICT sector was yet to be fully replicated in the anal of the economy.'Economic development correlates strongly with broadband penetration. For every one per cent increase in broadband penetration, there is an approximate $2,000 per capita GDP benefit,' she stated.The minister, who presented a paper titled: 'Mobile Money: The Role of ICTs' at the BusinessDay's Opportunities in Nigeria's emerging cashless economy, reasoned that mobile coverage needed to be expanded and competition increased, particularly in rural areas.According to her, globally, telecommunications access and services was defined as broadband, adding that broadband Internet was defined as central to the long-term economic development strategies of many nations.She said that ICT infrastructure consisted of a complex mesh of interconnected networks, services and devices, in which players should be able to operate at different levels and integrate with infrastructure of other players to provide seamless services to consumers.In Africa, Johnson added that the integration of infrastructure was progressing slowly, stressing that networks were distinct, built as stand-alone, end-to-end networks, with traditional concepts of fixed and mobile, and wireline and wireless persisted.Before now, the Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSMA), body representing the interest of mobile operators had predicted that with the right policy in place, broadband development in the country could earn the country about N862 billion by 2015.Already, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other stakeholders, (ATCON), former Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe and MainOne Cable Company have called for a broadband policy that will foster the needed development in the country and drive its growth.According to the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, broadband represented huge opportunities for social and economic progress of any nation or people.He said that broadband network and service had brought transformation to businesses and markets, significant wealth, economic growth, empowerment of individuals, organisations and communities, arguing that these defined how equipped businesses, people, communities and institutions would be visible when given access to broadband.According to him, structured proliferation of fibre infrastructure across the country was vital for delivery of true broadband services.Juwah added that the global revolution towards adopting a more efficient broadband access had led to the deployment of fibre networks worldwide. Fibre networks, he argued, were more cost effective, had a higher carrying capacity than copper or wireless networks, had greater transmission speed and provided better quality experience for Internet users who increasingly demanded video and file sharing.He said that for Nigeria to realise its goal of becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020, it was essential that the government took advantage of the broadband revolution sweeping across the world, by addressing fibre deployment challenges and positioning the country as an e-economy, capable of providing unlimited access to the world and global resources.To Ndukwe, Nigeria must grow its teledensity from the current 65.8 per cent to over 100 per cent if it is serious about the Vision 20:2020 target.Ndukwe, who said that Nigeria must continue to place emphasis on growing broadband infrastructure and catalysing adoption and usage of Internet and broadband services by the citizens, noted that broadband was no doubt an accelerator of social and economic development in the modern world with its applications enabling and facilitating economic and social services.Ndukwe, who said that telephone ownership had been democratised, noted that by the end of August 2011, the active subscribers' base was 92.1 million, which had resulted in a 65.8 per cent teledensity status for the sector and the country.He, however, said that Nigeria still needed to grow her teledensity figure from the current level of 66 per cent to over 100 per cent to achieve the Vision 2020 targets for national development.According to him, it was instructive to note that over 70 countries in the world had passed the 100 per cent teledensity level.The CEO, MainOne Cable Company, Ms. Funke Opeke, while commending investments in fibre optics cables in the country recently, said that there was need for Nigerians to feel the impact of what had been done through further penetration of broadband services in Nigeria. She noted that Nigerians demanded faster speed, lower price and an improved quality service.She stated that there were critical policy imperatives to increasing broadband penetration in Nigeria, which, if not addressed, would impact negatively on the nation's development objectives.According to her, there was an urgent need to develop and implement a national broadband policy in Nigeria with the support of the new ICT ministry and the policy needs to create demand and drive promotion strategies by allowing government intervene in market creation and facilitation by promoting broadband adoption and use, make broadband access and services more attractive and accessible to users by helping to lower prices and encouraging the diffusion of access devices such as computers, establish an enabling environment for competition and investment by removing market entry barriers.
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