ipNX is scaling up broadband infrastructure deployment across Nigeria as part of the tech industry pioneer’s operational expansion, Ejovi Aror, Group Managing Director, says.
The Group Managing Director of ipNX, who dropped this hint during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the expansion complements the vision of the country’s National Broadband Plan to spread high-speed internet service nationwide, and will also boost local telecoms industry’s growth.
During the visit, Aror told NCC that the operation of the company has come to a critical juncture and ipNX is happy to migrate from the stage where it is now to a more strategic stage where it will play a greater role in the efforts to expand broadband infrastructures in Nigeria.
The “courageous deregulation and liberalisation of the telecom sector by the Federal Government in the year 2000 was a masterstroke”, Adewolu says noting that the action “triggered uncommon liberalisation that caused a rare leap in the democratisation of access to telephone services, from a few hundred hitherto existing fixed lines in 1992 to over two hundred million subscriptions today.”
“Therefore,” Aror tells NCC, “we are here to solicit your support for our plan to expand our businesses because we are at the threshold of closing a chapter and moving onto another, particularly in expanding broadband infrastructure which is critical to national development.’
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Aror also hinted about the company’s plan to expand its operations in Nigeria, in a manner that will heighten the role of the telecom sector in the growth of the Nigerian economy.
According to him, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes, ipNX has provided free Internet access to schools in Lagos and Oyo States.
The Group Managing Director of ipNX says the tech company is ready to extend such services to other parts of the country, particularly in schools, because of the importance of ICT to educational development.
Adeleke Adewolu, NCC Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM), thanked ipNX for the visit and for the testimony about how NCC’s regulatory activities have caused growth in leaps and bounds in the fortunes of the telecom ecosystem.
Adewolu, who represented Professor Umar Danbatta, NCC Executive Vice Chairman says that through its activities, the telecoms regulator has recorded remarkable and quantifiable impact on the Nigerians economy, including increase in the sectoral contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Adewolu promised that the encouraging words of ipNX’s delegation will spur the Commission to put in more efforts towards achieving its mandate.
He also recalls the history of the evolution of the telecom industry in Nigeria, declaring that Decree 75 of 1992 which established the Commission, was a great feat.
The “courageous deregulation and liberalisation of the telecom sector by the Federal Government in the year 2000 was a masterstroke”, Adewolu says noting that the action “triggered uncommon liberalisation that caused a rare leap in the democratisation of access to telephone services, from a few hundred hitherto existing fixed lines in 1992 to over two hundred million subscriptions today.”
While encouraging ipNX to offer its best to the growth of the telecom sector, the NCC ECSM notes that the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the capacity of the Nigerian economy to survive the contagion have demonstrated the importance of the telecom sector because most social and economic activities simply migrated to online platforms.
“So we are delighted about your interest in expanding broadband infrastructure,” Adewolu says while underscoring the importance and contribution of broadband infrastructure to human survival at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Adewolus says, NCC is ready and willing to partner with stakeholders to accomplish the objectives of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030; and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025.
With the correlation between increase in broadband infrastructure and GDP of economies, Adewolu saysNCC “is all out to work with all stakeholders, including its licensed Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos), to expand broadband access, especially to the unserved and underserved areas of the country.”
ipNX has recorded several pioneering services including the launch of FOS Xtreme which the tech company claims is Nigeria’s first service to deliver 100Mbps and 200Mbps internet speed to homes and SMEs.
The FOS Xtreme flagship was introduced into the market during the COVID-19 pandemic with two service plans Xtreme100 and Xtreme200, running speeds of 100Mbps and 200Mbps, an offering the company says “is the first of its kind in Nigeria, lending credence to ipNX’ reputation for being the industry’s pacesetter for technological innovation.”
According to ipNX at the launch of the service, “we are at such a crucial time in history when productivity and output should not be affected by the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, thus as an innovative brand, we have invested in developing these novel plans that will deliver the highest speed and quality of connection to subscribers.”
According to ipNX, “the FOS Xtreme promise is to deliver the fastest internet access speed obtainable at any given time in Nigeria.”
The Nigerian tech company’s planned expansion in Nigeria comes following a deal signed in 2020 with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) under a partnership to further support the development of Nigeria’s ICT and broadband infrastructure and “help ipNX expand its fibre-optic network to more than 200,000 residences in Lagos and other locations, including Abuja and Port Harcourt.”
Through the initiative, USTDA says it is supporting ipNX to promote inclusive, secure, and sustainable connectivity across the nation that “will advance the goals of the recently-updated Nigerian Broadband Plan.”
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