The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, has highlighted the need for Nigeria to set a stage for the future of data, by building capacity through data centers.
Speaking at the fourth annual Telecommunications Sector Sustainability Forum, held in Lagos last Thursday, Danbatta, who was represented by Head, Tariff Administration at NCC, Dr. Sunday Atu explained that the Commission is already putting policies and programmes in place to ensure that the right investments are gotten in the sector.
The event was aimed at providing a platform to enable stakeholders share perspectives on the opportunities, challenges and impact that operators of Data Centre services hold within the Nigeria’s Digital Economy.
The EVC noted that: “The evolving primacy of data, encapsulated in the slogan – Data is the new oil – has continued to resonate globally with increasing intensity in the context of the emerging digital economy. This is why it has become a subject of special consideration by regimes, requiring appropriate structures and frameworks to truly tap and optimize the opportunities provided by this new order.”
He further acknowledged that data centre services, no doubt, hold the keys to the ultimate crystallization of this new line of thinking within the ICT sector and by extension to the greater national economy of nations in so many ways.
One of such is the added impetus towards improving the security and reliability of the nation’s digital infrastructure.
Danbatta applauded Data Center operators, especially in the area of security, as they set up architectures that engender economic growth.
“The nature and functional model of data centres with special regard to its centralized architecture, with compelling assurance provides greater guarantee against various malicious attacks and unauthorized access to sensitive information. This is in addition to the efficiency engendered by the robust economies of scale through critical resources shared and made available by Data Centres.
Being able to substantially underwrite some of our critical resource gaps such as weak energy challenges, Operators within the Data Centre space ensure that the well established and globally accepted tripods of confidentiality, integrity and availability are so seamlessly provided for uptake by users in the most economical way,” he concluded.
Citing global companies that are exploring the inherent treasure in data center operation, the EVC pointed to Google with its Equiano subsea fibre cable spanning 15,000 km from Portugal to South Africa, with strategic landing points in Nigeria and Namibia, which is expected to increase connectivity more than five-fold within Nigeria while creating an expected 1.6m jobs. Also, he mentioned Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which is equally at the threshold of launching its own subsea cable called 2Africa in 2024 to connect 16 African countries at an estimated cost of $1bn. It is targeted to generate close to $36bn of economic output within 2 to 3 years of operation.
He noted that the multiple billion dollar global data center market could benefit Nigeria as the country is well-positioned to attract such investment by establishing the right regulatory policies, and secured environment. “Policy and regulatory initiatives had been geared towards public investment in broadband backbone networks through harmonization of RoW charges and the allocation of more spectrum for existing mobile and 5G technologies.”
As the country prepares, the EVC noted that the NCC has taken steps to ensure Nigeria latches unto the benefits of data storage and utilization. These efforts include Infrastructure outsourcing and collocation that created a positive impact on operators’ profitability; reduction in data prices in the mobile sector engendered by extensive assessment of the broadband value chain, including the analysis of market features such as ecosystem mapping, pricing, technology, regulatory climate and competition.
Other measures include release of spectrum for 5G services to further lower costs of providing mobile broadband services, and the recent conclusion of the framework and licensing of Mobile Virtual Network Operators.
While enumerating challenges in the data center operation ecosystem, which he said included digital literacy, poor power supply, multiple taxation and regulations at different levels of government as well as the recent deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and the attendant subsidy removal, coupled with the exchange rate harmonization, Danbatta expects rapid expansion of digital platforms and stimulation of the digital ecosystem across e-commerce, banking, education, entertainment, health and government.
