The need to boost broadband penetration from its present coverage of
\n37.8 percent to over 70 percent in the next five years is the pedestal
\nfor the new National Broadband Plan (NBP):2020-2025, according to
\nMinister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami.<\/p>\n
Besides this, the Minister said, pervasive broadband penetration will
\ncertainly make Nigeria a truly digital economy. He spoke yesterday at
\nthe inauguration of a 25- member committee in Abuja.<\/p>\n
The new NBP 2020-2025 is sequel to the first NBP 2013-2018. The new NBP
\nCommittee has Ms. Funke Opeke, Managing Director\/CEO of Main One Cable
\nCompany Limited, as Chairperson with Dr. Bashir Gwandu as Co-Chairman.
\nEngr. Ubale Maska, the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services,
\nNigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as the Secretary to the
\nCommittee. Maska will be supported by four staff of the Ministry in the
\nsecretariat.<\/p>\n
The Committee is to develop a new National Broadband Plan that will be
\nthe guiding template for the development of this very important area of
\ntelecommunications. The Committee is to take a critical look at where
\nthe country is after painstaking review of the 2013-2018 phase and the
\nstatus of penetration now. The members are enjoined to also examine the
\nchallenges with a view to proffering solutions thereto. They should also
\nlook at the position of growing and emerging technologies among others.
\nThe new NBP has the collaboration and support of the United Kingdom (UK)
\nGovernment.<\/p>\n
The inauguration of the new Committee was a follow-up to the launch of
\nthe National Policy for Digital Economy and Strategy by President
\nMuhammadu Buhari, in November 2019. The Policy has eight pillars among
\nwhich are Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Solid
\nInfrastructure, Service Infrastructure, Digital Services Development and
\nProduction, Digital Society, Emerging Technologies and Indigenous
\nContent Development.<\/p>\n
The Minister told the Committee members to lay emphasis on the third
\npillar of the National Policy which accommodates broadband and data
\ncentre, key components for economic growth and promotion of digital
\neconomy. The Committee\u2019s work, he explained, will address significantly
\none of the eight pillars and the remaining seven will also run as one of
\nthis all-important pillar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work of this Committee will go a very long way in supporting the
\nnational digital economic policy and strategy for the Federal Government
\nbecause digital economy is strategically dominating the world economy
\ntoday.\u201d According to Pantami, members of the Committee were selected
\nbased on their competence, integrity and professionalism. \u201cIn all these,
\nNigeria comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Opeke, who responded on behalf of the committee thanked the Minister
\nfor the opportunity to serve and said the target of the committee is to
\nachieve, at least, 65-70 percent broadband penetration across Nigeria in
\nthe next five years, adding that the objective is technology neutrality
\nfor the right purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister has set the goal and I am sure the NCC is in agreement,\u201d
\nMs. Opeke added, saying \u201cwe will look at the work of the last Committee
\nand what was done, the prospects, the challenges that are still there in
\norder to come up with a plan to achieve the set objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe the objective is achievable with sincerity of purpose and
\nwith hard work for these are critical services and infrastructure that
\nwe need to bring to all Nigerians and we\u2019re optimistic that we can
\naccomplish that goal. There is work to be done on fixed infrastructure
\nbut the reality is mobile technologies are also progressing quite fast
\nto deliver very capable services to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see what is going on with 5G all over the world, so we will address
\nboth at the Committee but I believe our objective is not to favour one
\ntechnology over another but to figure out how we can get those critical
\nservices to many more Nigerians. So, we\u2019ll be a mix of technologies but
\nthe objective is not to favour one technology over another or to be
\nprescriptive but the right technology for the right purpose, the most
\ncompetitive technology that enables us to deliver services to all
\nNigerians,\u201d Opeke said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in his goodwill message, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC,
\nProf. Umar Garba Danbatta, said broadband infrastructure remains one of
\nthe top priorities of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
\nto ensure people around the world have access to equitable and
\naffordable broadband, wherever they are and whatever the circumstances
\nthey are in. With adequate broadband infrastructure in place, Danbatta
\nassured that everything else will fall into place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability to deliver healthcare, best quality education even to
\ngenerations unborn, ability to streamline transportation, meet up with
\nSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ability to transform the
\neconomy into a digital one,\u201d he said, pledging the commitment of the
\nBoard and Management of NCC, especially in the area of driving the
\ninfrastructure that will ensure that critical mass of ICT adoption in
\nuse will in time increase the level of broadband penetration in the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Besides Ms. Opeke, Gwandu and Maska, the 25-member Committee also has
\nrepresentatives from the academia, NCC, Galaxy Backbone, MTN, Google,
\nNigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Defence Space
\nAdministration, National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), National
\nInformation Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian
\nCommunications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, Association of Telecom
\nCompanies of Nigeria (ATCON), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), GSM
\nAssociation, among others.<\/p>\n
The need to boost broadband penetration from its present coverage of 37.8 percent to over 70 percent in the next five years is the pedestal for the new National Broadband…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n