As the International Telecommunications Union’s telecoms world conference to be held in Dubai from October 14 to18 approaches, the Nigerian government has promised to display its unsurpassed investment potentials.
The government also promises it would ensure its broadband sector gets huge funding.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, they want to make it known to potential investors that Nigeria remains the preferred investment destination in Africa.
Dr. Juwah said that even with the country’s progress in voice telephony, they will still have the potential investors look into the areas that still need attention.
The country’s focus on broadband development was driven by the poor state of broadband penetration, the high Internet cost and unavailability of bandwidth in their country, he said.
The ITU event, which is to be attended by industry players, policy makers, regulators, operators, government officials, technology experts and investors, will have Nigeria utilize its newly structured economy that has resulted from the telecom transformations and investments in broadband.
A team of the country’s industry players namely government officials, policy makers, regulators and several other stakeholders including telecommunications companies will be led by Communications Technology Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, to represent Nigeria in the conference.
While speaking to the press last week, Dr. Juwah had expressed that more progress in voice than in data had been noted.
He added that operators in Nigeria spend an average of between $400 million and $500 million annually on imported bandwidth, which has a negative effect on end-users who have to pay to access fast Internet and data speeds.
He however admitted with regret the high cost of its acquisition saying there was a bit of progress in terms of local bandwidth provision which was provided by Main One Cable Company, Glo 1 and the recently the re-launched NigComSat-1R satellite.
Juwah added that NCC is not only missing out on the potentials of broadband development that can cause the country a huge economic developmental loss, but also leaving it in the hands of private investors who are in the business to make profit.
Headquartered in Geneva, ITU is a member of the United Nations Development Group responsible for information and communication technologies. It has 193 member states and around 700 sector members and associates.
