Nigeria is currently only using 10 percent of its broadband capacity, with the nation yet to fully deploy the potential of the submarine fibre-optic cables that dock along the country’s coast.
This is according to Funke Opeke, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Main One Cable Company, an indigenous broadband services firm.
She said the nation is still underutilising the enormous capacities of the three fibre-optic cable companies.
In spite of this, she said the nation’s broadband companies had been able to reduce broadband cost in the wholesale market, while plans are in top gear to extend the price cuts to the retail market which she said directly affects Nigerian broadband subscribers.
She however noted that broadband companies in Nigeria ought to embrace infrastructure sharing in order to bring about a reduction in operational costs that could be passed along to end-users.
Opeke also added her voice to calls for infrastructural framework guidelines. According to her, the government needs to take into consideration the cost of existing backbone infrastructures and ensure that they are made accessible to telecoms companies at reduced prices.
“Government should step, look at existing infrastructures and set a regulatory policy that will enable people to buy bandwidth from the government at a reduced price, instead of each operator building its own backbone and fixing its price,” she said.
