While underscoring the importance of Data centres, NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Danbatta, reiterated that mainstreaming of data centres required collective efforts of all to take the country’s destiny into its hands through individual and sectorial supplementary feeds and enabling supports that ensure data centres not only operates to guarantee national Digital sovereignty but are able to prioritize contents reflecting our cultural norms, contexts and ideological values, while reaping the attendant socio-economic benefits within the value chain.
He said the Commission will continue to facilitate and support its licensees, as major stakeholders, to continue to explore additional frontiers of expansion and greater opportunities for investment within the data centre space, whilst also ensuring strict adherence to data protection regulations.
The EVC spoke in Ikeja, Lagos at the fourth Telecommunication sector sustainable Forum with the theme; ‘Mainstreaming Data Centres in the Nigerian Digital Economy.
According to him the NCC by the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (NCA 2003) has as part of its responsibility, the regulation of the Telecommunications Sector, as a critical driver of the Digital Economy in Nigeria.
The event is aimed at providing a platform to enable stakeholders to share perspectives on the opportunities, challenges and impact that operations of Data Centre services hold within Nigeria’s Digital Economy.
Dambatta said data being the new oil, Data centre services, no doubt, hold the keys to the ultimate crystallization of this new line of thinking within the ICT sector and by extension to the greater national economy of nations in so many ways.
He said the nature and functional model of data centres with special regard to its centralized architecture, with compelling assurance, provides a greater guarantee against various malicious attacks and unauthorized access to sensitive information.
He said recent bids by Google and Meta to launch cable networks across Africa covering Nigeria portends significant socio-economic impacts for Nigeria, it brings to the fore the debate around digital sovereignty and the need for national policy and regulatory frameworks to further localize traffic and data.
The Federal Government of Nigeria, Danbatta said has taken laudable steps to encourage and support data centre services in the country in its drive to ensure data sovereignty as encapsulated in the National Digital Economy Policy Strategy (NDEPS) Pillar No. 3 on Solid Infrastructure which states that; The Government will Promote the Development and Deployment of robust and scalable data centre infrastructure.
” By providing a reliable and secure environment for the services they offer within a well-nurtured policy and regulatory framework, Nigeria represents an attractive destination for more investment in data centre services and operations. The implication of such investments on jobs in the construction, operation, and maintenance of these data centres can only be imagined.
“With the commencement of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the role and criticality of Data centres become increasingly overwhelming. This is underscored by the kind of efficiency derivable when critical resources are shared at costs far significantly smaller than the actual costs of setting up such resources from scratch. It therefore provides a veritable platform for greater productivity and the attendant national competitiveness for businesses and public sector entities to effectively harness the opportunities to be unlocked from the estimated $1.2 Trillion latent treasure within the AfCFTA continental block through its 1.3 billion people.
“The NCC recognizes the place of Broadband infrastructure and technology in interconnectivity and its impact on national development, increased content and social inclusion. Policy and regulatory initiatives had been geared towards public investment in broadband backbone networks through the harmonization of RoW charges and the allocation of more spectrum for existing mobile and 5G technologies.
“With the recognition of the new place of data within the ecosystem, the Commission had proactively taken steps leading to:
“An active functioning market that brought about competition and improved quality of service, with appropriate regulatory measures to guide the industry in determining cost-based transmission trunk link rates and mobile access networks. We have also carried out an extensive assessment of the broadband value chain, including the analysis of market features such as ecosystem mapping, pricing, technology, regulatory climate and competition” Danbatta added.
These efforts have led to a reduction in data prices in the mobile sector including rapid expansion of non-voice service portfolios that created new revenue streams for network and data centre operators.
Infrastructure outsourcing and collocation created a positive impact on operators’ profitability with increased expansion to underserved rural areas towards increased user experience and greater data capture.
Clearly, Data Centre operators are not immune to the overwhelming challenges confronting the industry that range from digital literacy, poor power supply, multiple taxation and regulations at different levels of government as well as the recent deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and the attendant subsidy removal, coupled with the exchange rate harmonization.
