MainOne Sees Huge Benefits in National Broadband Plan

The National Broadband Plan (NBP), approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan's administration will bring huge benefits to the Nigerian economy, if properly harnessed, Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Ms. Funke Opeke has said.


The NBP seeks to deepen broadband penetration from its present 10 per cent to 30 per cent by 2018.

Opeke, while reviewing the state of broadband in Nigeria thesis the National Broadband Plan would not only bring huge efficiencies into Nigeria, but would also bring huge benefits to Nigeria and Nigerians in the areas of national development, job creation, unlimited access to the internet and research, among others.

She called on the federal government and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to handle the issue of spectrum sales in such a way that it would not stifle the huge benefits that broadband portends for Nigeria.

"Government should change the dynamics of spectrum auctions. It should not be seen as a revenue-making initiative. Focus should be on making more frequencies available and to the right players, and collaboration should be encouraged among operators," Opeke said.

Opeke's view on spectrum auction was sequel to complaints from industry stakeholders that the cost of spectrum in Nigeria is on the high side, a situation, they alleged, forces industry players to run out of money to rollout services, after paying so much for spectrum that they won through competitive bidding process. It is the view of industry operators that government should make cost of spectrum affordable and at the same time, increase broadband access to enable them roll out broadband services at a cheaper rate to Nigerians.
To properly address the low broadband penetration in the country, Opeke suggested that government should encourage equipment manufacturers to build assembling/manufacturing plants in Nigeria, which will create jobs and greatly expedite network rollout, since there is a huge amount of equipment to be purchased, if Nigeria must achieve ubiquitous broadband access.

She also called on government to make the national broadband fiber network available to all operators on an open access and wholesale basis, via public-private partnership and regulatory intervention to encourage sharing. "There is need for points of access across the state in densely populated areas, multiplicity of duct holes to avoid multiple road digging and protection of infrastructure against vandalism," Opeke said.

According to her, "There is a role for regulators to provide policy directives and support similar policy in other climes such as South Africa, Morocco, Egypt. There should also be regulatory shifts in how we approach redistribution of broadband. We need to complement fiber broadband with spectrum availability required for access and coverage. Regulatory interventions should encourage adoption of smart state initiatives and curb multiple taxation to help spur growth of the industry," she said, adding that aside the supply side of broadband penetration, there is need to also focus on the demand angle, since there is a great need to provide relevant content that will make people use the internet.

She also called on government to subsidise access to devices such as laptops, to encourage access to broadband internet, and insisted that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as well as e-Commerce sites should be encouraged to embrace web services adoption via support.