Nigeria’s Broadband Council has admitted progress made on the year-old National Broadband Plan has been slower than expected.
Reviewing the progress at the recently held fourth Broadband Council meeting in Lagos, the council said broadband penetration since the implementation of the plan has only increased to 6.8 per cent from 6 per cent.
In a statement released by Efem Akanga, special advisor (media) to Nigeria’s communication technology minister Omobola Johnson, all council members agreed sustained efforts needed to be maintained to increase the penetration rate in accordance with the five-year target of the plan as full 3G rollout would lead to increased mobile broadband penetration for all.
Speaking at the meeting Johnson, who is also the chairman of the council, said through the smart states initiative, that is reducing or removing right of way and other related fees, governors and relevant authorities are being engaged at state and federal levels to address the issue of multiple taxations, which will accelerate the rollout of critical infrastructure across Nigeria.
The council was also informed a collaborative agreement between the Ministry of Communication Technology, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Ministry of Environment had been gazetted and is now in place to help ease bottlenecks concerning base station deployment.
“An MOU that outlines the roles and responsibilities of each department with respect to base station deployment and approvals of Environmental Impact Assessments necessary for effective service delivery in the telecom sector is now operational. In addition, the timeline for the processing of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports will no longer exceed 90 days, another obstacle often highlighted by operators,” Akanga said in the statement.
These achievements, the council said, are in line with Nigerian government’s goal of a five-fold increase in broadband penetration by 2017.
