Ernest Ndukwe, chairperson of Openmedia Group and former CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), believes Africa needs to catch up in terms of spectrum and fixed broadband.
Speaking at the LTE Africa conference in Cape Town, Ndukwe said broadband statistics for the fourth quarter of last year by Point Topic indicated the African market share is less than one per cent of the global fixed broadband market.
Furthermore, two billion mobile broadband subscriptions were recorded last year, but Africa represented only four per cent of the global statistics, expected to rise to just over six per cent by the end of this year.
Point Topics conclusion stated: “Unless African leaders create an environment which encourages broadband network investments, and makes it easy for companies to roll out broadband services, the situation is unlikely to change in the near future.”
Given this, Ndukwe offered some advice to regulators in Africa. “Just go ahead and release the spectrum as soon as possible… Let the mobile broadband flow, Africa needs to catch up with the rest of the world. Do not go for lengthy spectrum allocation processes.”
Ndukwe also advised African regulators to not set their focus on “making big money for the treasury” and in turn disempower the citizens of the country in question.
“Africa will gain more from broadband being available to everyone and everywhere at affordable prices than in making big bucks for government from long drawn multi-round spectrum auctions,” said Ndukwe.
He believes operators will always be able to “sort out themselves in the market,” thus regulators should not pay too much attention to operators.
With regards to the role mobile operators should play, Ndukwe said they should: “Provide [the] required investment for rapid roll out of 4G networks, improve value of investments in broadband infrastructure through the lowering of infrastructure deployment costs, including infrastructure sharing and thus [they will be] able to offer affordable end user prices and still operate profitably.”
He added mobile operators should also invest in “awareness creation schemes to sell the benefits of broadband access” and “invest in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programs targeted at advancing digital literacy”.
Regarding the role policy makers should play, Ndukwe suggested they provide tax incentives, targeted concessions and grants where most needed for the encouragement of faster deployments.
Policymakers should guarantee right of way for LTE deployment, provide incentive schemes focused on content development and prioritise access to basic education, including ICT skills development, he said.
Furthermore, Ndukwe said policymakers should “establish policies and laws that designate ICT networks and installations as critical national infrastructure that qualify for special protection,” because he views this as a national security aspect for any country.
