The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that it is in the process of finalizing the six Infracos Counterpart Funding Agreement, to galvanise the full rollout of broadband infrastructure on an Open Access Model (OAM).
This, the Commission said, is aimed at enhancing digital transformation and ensures there is Point of Access in each of the 774 local governments in the country.
Presenting a keynote address on Tuesday at the 2020 Virtual Nigeria Innovation Summit, Danbatta said that the Commission’s initiative to license Infrastructure Companies (INFRACOs) to bridge existing gaps will further improve not only broadband penetration but the quality of broadband experience.
Nigeria, today, has six licensed INFRACOs, one in each geo-political zone of the country, with Lagos State receiving special status because of its commercial centrality to the country.
The seventh license for the North-Central region is being processed.
Danbatta who was represented at the Summit by the Director, Public Affairs at the NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde said the result of this initiative is that apart from meeting and surpassing the 30 per cent broadband penetration in December 2018, in line with the NBP 2013-2018 target, the Commission increased broadband penetration from less than 6 per cent in 2015 to 43.30 per cent by August 2020.
“This translates to 82,653,247 broadband subscriptions in the country as of August 2020. These measures have been very instrumental to the emergence and survival of SMEs that have had to ride on the backbone of telecoms infrastructure during this pandemic,” Danbatta disclosed.
He said it was noteworthy to emphasize the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the global economy and the important role ICT has played containing the challenges posed by the pandemic.
“Many of us have been forced to work from home; government services have moved to online portals; our kids now attend virtual classes; lectures and conferences are now virtual; e-commerce has seen a significant uptick and boom globally; online payment for goods and services have now increased threefold; logistics and delivery businesses have seen a huge surge in demand for their services.
“The above services require fast broadband and reliable means of connectivity and the NCC has continued to work assiduously with our Stakeholders in ensuring that the nation’s ICT infrastructure is able to meet the increased demand for connectivity,” he said.
The EVC noted that the recent experiences underscore the need to continue to invest in research and innovation in order to find lasting solutions to current and emerging problems.
He said that it is in this spirit that the Commission has been supporting research efforts in the country’s tertiary institutions, disclosing that till date, the Commission has awarded the sum of N345.4 million as research grants to the academia and as the endowment of professorial chairs in two Nigerians to drive innovation through promoting local content development in the telecoms sector.
“We have also empowered the Nigerian youths by promoting their ingenuity and innovation on developing locally-relevant technology solutions.
“The latest of such was the NCC Virtual Hackathon, where the Commission gave out N9 million in grants to three top tech startups with the most promising innovative solutions for COVID-19,” Danbatta said.