The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the telecoms regulator plans to license more Infrastructure Companies (Infraco) to boost broadband penetration in the country.
Professor Umar Danbatta Executive Vice Chairman NCC dropped the hint at the DAAR 2017 Awards ceremony held in Abuja, where he was honoured with award for Outstanding Leadership in Public Sector Governance.
“At the moment, Nigeria has moved from 10 per cent to 22 per cent broadband penetration in the pursuit of the 30 per cent target set for December 2018. Effort is ongoing to deepen the penetration as part of this administration’s eight-point agenda”, Danbatta says.
“To achieve the broadband penetration target, plans are also ongoing to license Infrastructure Companies, Infracos, auction some frequency licences, while some are being initiated and some being reframed. In broadband, we have moved from 10 per cent to 22 per cent broadband penetration at the moment. All these are going on simultaneously”, he adds.
Danbatta says that ”agenda for consumers’ expectations as regards quality of service has encapsulated all the key areas of interest for the Nigerian consumer. 2017 was the Year of Consumer, but yet to come is the broadband plan for Nigeria which is being implemented at the moment.
Issues like spectrum management efficiency and collaboration with other organisations are being resolved so the telecommunication sector can spur the industry to grow the economy.”