Nigeria’s minister for communications technology Omobola Johnson has revealed the Presidential Committee on Broadband Road map has completed the production of a broadband strategy and roadmap and is awaiting the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking at an expo on broadband expansion held in Lagos, Johnson said the presidential committee deliberated for five months to establish a final plan with clear phases towards the objective of a 500 per cent rise in broadband penetration by 2015.
“Approval of the document by the President is imminent and once approved, the industry can commence what it does best- building networks that extend to the population regardless of their geographical location,” Johnson said.
Ernest Ndukwe, former vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Jim Ovia, chairman of Visafone, co-chaired the committee, which was made up of 17 members representing various stakeholders in Nigeria’s ICT sector.
Members of the committee deliberated on issues such as classification of ICT infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, the converged regulator debacle, application of open access models to installed broadband infrastructure and financial incentives for operators.
According to the minister, more attention is being given to the finance and development of a broadband network by the federal government, which she said is as a result of the government’s realisation of the importance of broadband to national socio-economic development.
She added: “Government will also continue to intervene financially in network build out in unserved and underserved areas through the universal service fund and other creating means of funding.”
