The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Malam Mohammed Bello to assist in resolving the challenges inhibiting the deployment of broadband infrastructures in the city.
Its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Danbatta, who led the management team of the Commission to the minister, lamented that the “FCT appears to have some of the most challenging issues with quality of service”.
Also on the team was the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Mr Sunday Dare, the Director of Public Affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo and other top officials of the Commission.
Dambatta said the visit has become imperative given the fact that the contribution of the telecoms sector to the economy has become so important. He listed some of these contributions to include the more than $68 billion private sector investments it has attracted to the country since 2001.
According to him, the number of mobile and fixed line subscribers have averaged 150 million within the first six months of this year, while internet access stands at 92 million as at June 2017 and ICT contribution to the GDP is close to 10 per cent.
Danbatta, who said the NCC would strive to attain 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018, however, said the feat cannot be achieved without the support of the FCT administration.
“It is interesting to note that FCT belongs to the first set of two zones (North Central and Lagos) where the commission has issued Infraco licenses to enable broadband deployment in all parts of the federation using the Open Access Model,” he said.
Dambatta continued: “Given the status of the FCT today in the scheme of things, it ought to be the city with the best telecommunications connectivity. But the reverse is the case and has been so for several years now.
“This presents us with the reality that our FCT has some challenges that may deny it the opportunity of the revolution in the ICT of the future.”
He listed the challenges as collocation of telecoms base stations in the FCT, the fee regime, retroactive FCTA laws that affect telecom facilities, activities of road construction companies with attendant damages and cuts of fibre lines and delayed approval for installation of base stations and fibre deployments.
Prof Danbatta further said the implementation of the national economic council resolutions on multiple taxation, levies and charges on ICT infrastructures also inhibit the operations of telecom companies in the FCT, noting that “some service providers have indicated that the FCTA collects more than 100 per cent of some charges prescribed in that resolution”.
Prof Danbatta urged the FCT administration to look into the issues with a view to address them for the growth and development of the telecommunication industry in the country.
Mallam Bello, in his remarks, described NCC management visit as timely, noting that issues raised by the NCC boss were of great concern to the FCT administration.
Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/ncc-minister-facilitate-broadband-infrastructure-deployment/