Over 500 towns and cities in the country
are now covered by third generation networks, the Nigerian
Communications Commission has said.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said this on Wednesday at the Commonwealth Broadband Forum holding in Abuja.
Juwah, who was represented at the event
by the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, Mr.
Okechukwu Itanyi, said the increment in the 3G networks had come in the
last five years, adding that as of 2010, 3G networks covered only 20
cities.
Third generation networks are renowned for more effective service delivery as they have higher capacity for data delivery.
Higher
demand for data services has forced network operators to upgrade their
networks from second generation to 3G services but most times, they
approach the upgrade on city by city basis, giving priority to areas
where they generate more income.
Juwah also said that in the last five
years, intercity fibre laid in the country had risen from about 22,000
kilometres to over 30,000km, while Internet subscription within the
period increased from 15 million to 83 million.
He said, “The catalytic role and
contribution of broadband services to an economy is well documented.
Some of these are its positive impact on education delivery, health care
provision, energy management, security, and information dissemination.
“For Nigeria, the lack of a robust fixed
network infrastructure and the need to rapidly develop the
infrastructure to provide universal broadband services required a
coordinated national approach.
“This led to the crafting of a National
Broadband Plan covering the period 2013 to 2018. The policy and
regulatory strategies for accelerated broadband infrastructure
development was thus articulated, taking due cognizance of the unique
conditions prevailing in the country.”
Juwah said in order to overcome the
current gaps in Nigeria’s broadband infrastructure and effectively
manage the challenges in its deployment and operations as well as enable
the realisation of the national broadband target of 2018, adequate
lessons learnt from the past and present would be leveraged upon.
This will ensure the delivery of an
optimal broadband infrastructure framework and network; he said, adding
that a network that was capable of providing the platform for the
realisation of the set broadband penetration objectives of the country,
taking the unique operating environment of Nigeria into consideration,
was being implemented.
Source: Punchng
