… Restates NCC’s Commitment To Positioning Nigeria As A Digital Hub in Africa
As technology evolves and advances through innovativeness globally, countries are jostling to ensure they are not left behind in the technologies of the future as they shape economies.
Speaking at a virtual forum organised by Digital Africa, the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has encouraged African countries to take advantage of the huge streams of data generated in various sectors to develop the ICT industry.
He hinted that adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions is expected to increase tremendously in the next few years and competition among major AI companies is expected to be intense.
Quoting a recent report published by Markets and Markets (M&M), Prof. Danbatta further noted that the global AI market size is projected to grow from its current $58.3 billion to $309.6 billion by 2026. “It is a compound of enormous growth rate of 39.7% during the forecast period. “
The keynote speaker at the event, Prof. Danbatta said Nigeria is working towards ensuring it takes proactive steps to positioning the country on a digital pedestal that will benefit the economy. Some of these measures boarder on policies, training, licensing, collaborations and encouraging innovativeness.
Extending his speech towards Blockchain technology, the EVC explained that BlockChain is the foundation for digital currency such as bitcoin, one of the newest technologies that has received extensive global attention in recent times. BlockChain based applications are springing up, covering numerous fields including financial services, refutation systems, Internet of Things (IoT), health and so on.
Prof. Danbata also made reference to the ‘Emergent Research’, a research consulting firm forecast on small businesses, which projects that the global BlockChain market of $180.7 million in 2019 is anticipated to reach $1.12 billion by the year 2027, a compound growth rate of 25.6%. One major implication of this revelation is that a robust and reliable broadband infrastructure and advanced technology, such as the 5th Generation (5G) Network, are required to unleash the huge economic potentials of AI and BlockChain in every country. He posited that Africa, and indeed Nigeria, must be positioned to take advantage of this huge revenue in AI and BlockChain technologies, in the next 5 years to enable a digital economy.
Presently, NCC has licensed some Infrastructure companies (InfraCos) to fast-track deployment of broadband infrastructure across the country.
To further propel the growth and development of Nigeria’s broadband agenda, the Commission said it has also given the InfraCos the liberty of choosing viable areas to deploy infrastructure within their regions. This directive supersedes the earlier mandate to delving into the rural areas.
Speaking earlier at a Virtual Structured Engagement With Stakeholders in the Nigeria Telecom and ICT sector on the new National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 Prof. Danbatta said this arrangement with InfraCos will enable them work while waiting for the counterpart funding from the federal government.
The EVC also highlighted the progress being made in ensuring that state governments comply to the agreement to have a uniform Right of Way (RoW) charge of N145 per square meter. “Collaboration with State Governments has also seen the adoption of the N145/m or outright waiver Right-of-Way (RoW) by six (6) State Governments, although, here we must mention that more needs to be done by the States and Local Governments to ensure full adoption and cascading of the decision for implementation. This notwithstanding, the Commission will not relent in its effort towards addressing the issue RoW.”
While noting that NNBP 2020-2025 has raised the performance bar for the whole telecom industry, Prof. Danbatta is optimistic that: “Being a document crafted by experts and executives, there is no reason why it cannot be achieved to put Nigeria in a firm pedestal of nations with broadband access.”
He assured that the Commission will continue to proactively provide the necessary regulatory interventions which will facilitate the achievement of not only the 70% broadband penetration target but other associated targets as well, which will truly transform the nation’s economy into a Digital Economy.
Some of the targets of the NNBP 2020-2025 include, achieving 15Mbps and 25Mbps internet speed in rural and urban areas respectively by 2025; interconnection of 90% of all LGA’s by fibre; 70% Population penetration; 100% of Tertiary Institutions to be within 5Km of a fibre Point of Access (PoA); 60% of all telecom towers to be connected by fibre. Other targets include connection of one (1) major hospital or General hospital per LGA via fibre; reduction of average cost of data to N390/Gb or less; establishment of at least one (1) local assembly or manufacture of smart devices and reduction of RoW charges to N145 per linear meter.
