The Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC] says Nigeria has achieved Broadband penetration of 14 percent at present and is convinced that the anticipated 30 percent penetration by 2018 is also achievable.
Professor Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC said at a Stakeholders Forum for ITU Telecom World 2016 in Lagos yesterday that Nigeria has also crossed the 100 percent threshold thirst for Internet services. The ITU Telecom World is set for November 14-17, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand.
He said the Commission has made spirited efforts to raise the level of Broadband penetration in the country since the National Broadband Plan [NBP] was launched by the Federal Government. He added that part of Nigeria’s tech at the Telecom World event is the revolution brewing in the area of Broadband in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a Broadband developing nation. We belong to that part of the world where Broadband penetration is very low. We must embrace the new digital divide or lag behind. This new digital divide is between developed Broadband nations and those like Nigeria. There is need for more investments and partnerships as no government can do it alone. We need Public-Private Partnership to woo investors.”
The NCC EVC said the ICT sector has attracted over $35 billion in Foreign Direct Investment [FDI] and local investments to underline the success story of the sector over the years.
“The ICT sector has recorded very significant growth in the last 15 years, when we moved from a little below 500, 000 active lines to the current 157 million and surpassed the 100 percent threshold for teledensity [107%]; Internet connectivity climbed up from 50, 000 in 2001 to its current 97 million. Our success story is very long but we as regulators are not resting on our oars believing that we are already there.”
He said the forum is to re strategise on how to attract more meaningful investments into the country.
“We are here to fine-tune our story about the growth and attraction of our sector. We are here to think of ways to convince would-be investors on the potential and capacity of our country. We are here to agree on the future growth of the telecom industry.”
The theme of Nigeria’s participation at the Telecom World 2016 is: ‘Smart Communities: The Key to a Digital Nigeria.’
