The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said today that Infrastructure Companies, Infracos, licensed several months ago, would soon roll out services across the country.
Danbatta’s confidence is hinged on several factors, among them, the ongoing reduction of right of way fees by state, an act that reduces the cost of deploying telecom infrastructure across the country.
He is also confident that the recent announcement by the Minister of communication and digital economy, Dr Isa Pantami, that the federal government has directed to protect telecom infrastructure across the country, would go a long way to assist the development of the sector.
Telecom companies, among them the licensed infrastructure companies, six of them, have complained that right of way fees were making the cost of deploying infrastructure across the country too costly. They have also complained of incessant vandalism of their infrastructure.
Several states, Imo, Ekiti and Anambra, have reduced right of way fees. More states are expected to follow.
With recent developments, the Commission said it is committed to ensure the InfraCo licensees visibly roll-out services latest by the end of first quarter next year.
“The congestion in the telecoms sector that we are experiencing exposes the inadequacy of infrastructure that we have been talking about.
“The telecoms service providers must be commended because in the face of this challenge of inadequacy of infrastructure they have at least provided services of reasonable quality. We hope and pray that this will continue despite the challenges.
“Also, this is the time for leveraging the redundancies in other to contain the challenges of (network) congestion. By redundancies, I mean infrastructure redundancies; that is fiber networks.
“Now, we are all convinced that there is infrastructure deficit in this country and the quickest way we can address this is to roll out fast; deploying more infrastructure through the InfraCos.
The EVC is also happy with the recent announcement by minister of communications and digital economy, Dr Isa Pantami, that the federal government will protect telecom infrastructure from vandalism and indiscriminate shut down by states.
Danbatta who acknowledged there is congestion in the networks and inadequacies in the sector, arising from infrastructural deficit in the country said there was need to move fast, roll out fast and close the gap by providing infrastructure through the licensed InfraCos.
“We have done a lot in this regard. All is now set for the InfraCos to-roll-out services across the country. Soon the Honourable Minister will announce the kick-off of the projects.
“We are making a statement that finally, this country is ready to provide robust telecom services. We want to prove that we are a country that has deployed fibres without borders.
“This is the time for leveraging the redundancies in order to contain the challenges of network congestion. By network redundancies, I mean infrastructure redundancies,” Danbatta said.
Danbatta spoke during a virtual meeting organized by the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) with the theme: Socio-Economic and Political Impact of COVID-19 on Telecom and ICT Sector in Nigeria.
He said broadband plays a major role in containing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by:
- Facilitating the provision of palliatives in this era of COVID-19
- Helping people work remotely, and
- Enabling educational institutions in online distance learning.
According to him the sector in readiness for a post-COVID-19 Nigeria, is poised to provide affordable, accessible and available broadband services to Nigerians, He reiterated NCC’s commitment to the actualization of that goal.
“Broadband will be used to streamline transportation. It can be leveraged on to better manage our environment. It will also be used to address our socio-economic challenges,” he said.
Danbatta noting some of the exciting developments and unprecedented changes in the telecoms sector, such as the harmonization of the right-of-way charges in some states and the recent approval by President Buhari of telecom-facilities as Critical National Infrastructure, attest to the values attached to telecom services in the country.
He thanked the President Buhari-led administration for listening to the cries of telecom services providers by issuing a directive for the protection of telecom facilities as Critical National Infrastructure, the EVC said the stage is now set for the era of telecom services to thrive.
While welcoming guests to the virtual meeting, president of ATCON, Olusola Teniola said the meeting was organized to find solutions on how to ensure effective regulation and development and building of local capacities for the speedy spread of telecom and ICT infrastructure facilities across the country.
He also said the meeting would push for the buy-in of governments at all levels to encourage telecom and ICT infrastructure development in their respective states by encourage rapid investment through incentives such as tax holiday and provision of special intervention funds for the sector by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He commended Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for their show of support to the honourable Minister in moving the industry to an enviable trajectory which can be explained by the recent 14.07% Q12020 contribution of the Nigerian telecom and ICT sector to the country’s GDP.
“It will not also be wrong to commend the efforts of our member company CEOs who have been making right decisions to put us on this growth path and ensuring our networks withstood the pressures of the stay-at-home COVID-19 directive over the last 3 months’, he said.
