Nigeria broadband penetration has grown beyond its 30% target in 2018 with about 2%.
According to the executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) special assistant on media, Yakubu Musa, Nigeria attained 31.48% broadband penetration as at December, 2018.
“Nigeria attained 30.9% broadband penetration as at November 2018. What this connotes is that, a total of 58,965,478 were connected to the internet through 3G and 4G networks out of 108,457,051 internet subscribers in the nation’s telecom networks. The figures rose in December to 60, 087,199, taking the penetration depth to 31.48%.
“That broadband is now globally acclaimed as the major index of development in all aspects of human life is not an exaggeration. It’s, according to the ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development the nervous system of today’s civilization, and its access is top priority for our technologically society.
“There’s no gainsaying, therefore, the aspiration of many a nation today is to deploy available human and material resources to attain broadband success.
“It’s on this premise that we can surmise strategic importance and profound impact inherent in the recent indices of Nigeria’s broadband giant strides.
“To put it into perspective, the penetration figures stood at 8.5 % in 2015 when the regulator of the Nigerian telecom industry, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Yet even more pertinent to our broadband is the fact that 6 infrastructure companies (Infracos) have been licensed to drive the deployment of infrastructure across the nation’s geographical zones and Lagos—while the remaining one (for North Central) is being processed. This, no do doubt, bodes well for the future of the industry,” he said.
Musa, giving insights into the three year achievements of Danbatta, further said, while there was a special emphasis on ensuring Nigeria met its 30% target on broadband penetration, no item on Dabatta’s 8-point agenda was not touched.
“Perhaps one of the most remarkable feats of his leadership was dedicating the year 2017 as the Year of the Consumer of the industry.
“When the campaign was flagged off, for instance, less than 500 subscribers had activated the 2442 Do-Not-Disturb code developed by the commission in 2016 to tackle the menace of unsolicited telemarketing. Yet as at 31stOctober 2018, no fewer than 16.5 million have activated the Do-Not-Disturb and counting. The commission’s second layer complaint toll free line, 622 has also become a beehive of activities.
“In the area of strategic collaboration, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Danbatta and governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, with a view to boosting mobile money service penetration and financial inclusion in the country has also struck a chord. With this development, there’s permeating optimism that the country will be able to deepen the inclusion to 80% by 2020,” he said.
