The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced its intention to commence Phase II – licensing of Infracos for North-East, North-West, South-South, South-East and South-West zones (excluding Lagos).
In a recent advertorial signed by Mr. Tony Ojobo, Director Public Affairs at NCC, it said “The InfraCos will deploy metropolitan fibre infrastructure within its assigned territory on an open access, non-discriminatory, price regulated basis”.
“The Open Access Model has been examined and found to be an appropriate model for Optic Fibre backbone infrastructure in Nigeria to bridge the current broadband gap and deliver fast, reliable broadband services to households and businesses. It is envisaged that this initiative will address the challenges of congested transmission network and also mitigate the challenges arising from infrastructure sharing and Rights of Way issues.
NCC explained further that “The Federal Government shall provide financial support in the form of subsidy, which shall be competitively determined to facilitate the rollout obligations”.
The projects are as on ‘Infraco for deployment of optic fibre Infrastructure Broadband network in the five geopolitical zones excluding Lagos as Lagos has been taken care of.
