Leading stakeholders in Nigeria’s broadband services delivery, have made it clear that it is high time, state governments’ who are key obstacles in the race to broadband penetration had a rethink and review their hard stand on milking Infrastructure Companies (Infracos) and networks in delivery of optic fibre cables across Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme of the Conference; ‘Regulations Disruptions Employability Entrepreneurship and Convergence Broadband and Broad Plan’, the President of Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, called on all stakeholders on the to deepen collaboration especially with government and private sector players if the new timeline of 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2024 must be met. The stakeholders in unison, agreed that ‘broadband should be a privileged right’ since broadband is the key vehicle that drive all sorts of growth including converged technologies and services in the 21st century both for the hard-line state governments and the private sector operators in every business and sector.
Earlier in their presentations, the CEO of Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN), Ibrahim Dikko; and Managing Director of Rack Centre, Tunde Coker, noted that supporting the data ecosystem that exists here would depend on how much of broadband the Nigerian environment can offer.
They argued strongly that whereas convergence of technologies and services are imperative on the availability of broadband and right regulations to foster and not impede growth, the regulator must at policy development level, confer with states so as to reduce fee hostilities and multiple taxation from states so that Infracos can move in and deliver the needed digital inclusion backbone.
They agreed further that it is better for states to even charge next to nothing in Infracos so that they can deliver the needed data infrastructure which will be used by every business to expand in other to make even bigger money from taxes that will be paid by thousands of businesses that will grow based on affordable data services after all.
