As of December 2021, 114 communities in Nigeria have either weak or no internet connectivity, according to a report by the Centre for Information Technology and Development.
A similar report by Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) found that 81 per cent of Nigerians lack meaningful connectivity.
The World Bank defines meaningful connectivity as having access and the ability to apply the power of digital to today’s most pressing challenges with innovations like remote learning, telehealth, e-government services, and more.
Need to say that, without deployment of telecoms infrastructure, Nigeria is likely to miss its 70 per cent penetration target by 2025.
Bridging the gaps
To bridge the digital divide in Nigeria however, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in partnership with consultants and significant industry consultation, came up with Infrastructure Company (InfraCo) model, as an appropriate model for optic fibre backbone infrastructure development across various parts of Nigeria.
InfraCo is one of the initiatives of the telecoms regulator, to actualize the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025, aimed to achieve 60 per cent fibre to towers connection; minimum of 120,000kmfibre infrastructure; fibre along all federal and state roads; fibre along 90 per cent of Local Government Area roads; connecting 100 per cent tertiary institutions to fibre and delivering 25 Megabyte per second internet speed by 2025.
As of today, the telecoms regulator has given licenses to seven InfraCos, to rollout optic fibre across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. The plan was to enable retail operators leverage shared infrastructure to expand their reach and lower the cost of Broadband services.
The companies are Infraco Nigeria Limited, Brinks Integrated Solution Limited, Zinox Technologies Limited, Fleek Networks Nigeria Limited, Raeanna Nigeria Limited, Oodua Infraco Resource Limited and Broadbased Communications Limited.
Each InfraCo is obliged to establish big capacity wholesale networks under stringent performance standards. Retailers who need infrastructure in any of the zones will benefit from the ability to share and pay competitive, government-regulated pricing for InfraCo infrastructure.
The license allows for the open, nondiscriminatory, and price-regulated installation of metropolitan fiber-optic infrastructure within the designated territory.
As outlined by the regulators Open Access Next Generation Fibre Optics Broadband Network paper, the InfraCos will be responsible for providing wholesale broadband and network services to retail telecom service providers.
According to IT expert, Kazeem Oladepo, the InfraCo model is seen as a strategic means to accelerate the deployment of optic fibre backbone transmission infrastructure network nationwide and will contribute significantly to increasing Broadband penetration, delivering cost effective and reliable broadband services to households and businesses and facilitate the development of Nigeria’s digital economy. It is also expected to help address the Right of Way (RoW) challenges currently faced by operators in the deployment of fibre optic infrastructure in towns and cities, Oladepo added.
It has been empirically proven that every 10 per cent in broadband penetration in developing countries results in a commensurate increase of 1.3 per cent to GDP, the IT expert averred, adding that, “We live in a global village where ICT has a direct impact on nation’s Competitiveness and its ability to improve the economic wellbeing of her people and compete globally.
“Broadband has been globally acknowledged as the foundation for transformation to a knowledge-based economy. It has the potential of enabling entire new industries and introducing significant efficiencies into education delivery, health care provision, energy management, ensuring public safety, government/citizen interaction and overall organization and dissemination of knowledge.”
Reasons for failure
However it is sad to note that seven years have passed, yet, nor of these InfraCos have been able to deliver, leading to downward trajectory of broadband penetration, as shown in the latest telecommunications statistical indicators released by NCC.
As contained in the latest report, broadband penetration decreased from 48.49 per cent as at February 2023 to 41.87 per cent in December 2023.
In addition to the difficulties associated with Right-of-Ways (RoWs), funding availability, poor Return on Investment in rural areas, multiple taxation, and the federal government’s inability to designate telecom infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), nfraCos who spoke with NATIONAL ECONOMY also bemoaned their inability to access forex in order to purchase the infrastructure.
They contend that Nigeria imports these infrastructural pieces rather than producing them domestically, adding that, “We need to find funding for our project, but we don’t have access to foreign exchange. This has made our ambitions to install fiber infrastructure in rural areas much more stymied. Based on all indications, reaching 70 per cnet broadband penetration by 2025 will be challenging if the FX difficulty is combined with additional difficulties.”
The chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Adebayo Gbenga told NATIONAL ECONOMY that the failure to rollout fibre infrastructure to unserved and underserved areas cannot be blamed on the InfraCos alone as government has a big role to play.
Unless government address the issue of forex, RoW, access to capital and multiple taxation and regulation, among others, there is nothing the infraCos can do, Gbenga asserted.
“Government must address these barriers that we have been preaching for decades, for the successful deployment of infrastructure, which in turn will help deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria. For instance, I suggest that there is need to embark on more sensitization and advocacy for state governments’ adoption of the harmonized Rate of RoW charge of N145/Linear Meter approved by the National Economic Council in 2019,” the chairman stated.
On access to forex, Gbenga said it is high time government see the telecom industry as critical sector of the Nigerian economy. “We cannot force government to produce forex that they don’t have. But once it is available, government should consider us, as we are as important to the Nigerian economy as other sectors,” he posited.
Tackling InfraCos’ challenges
In his response, the executive vice chairman of NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, during a media parley in Lagos, stated that while there are many regulations and levies to deal with in the telecom industry, state-level regulation of the telecom industry is unavoidable due to the autonomy of the states as guaranteed by Nigeria’s constitution.
However, Maida affirmed that the NCC will handle some of the redundant regulations by working with the state governments and their agencies.
“The telecoms sector has not had enough progress as it wanted with the licensed InfraCos, but NCC will do more of advocacy to drive telecoms infrastructure development in the country. In the area of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), NCC has done a lot of stakeholders’ engagement, gathering data and looking at the impact in terms of cost when it comes to damages done to fibre infrastructure and how much of service disruption it is creating for the sector,” Maida explained.
