An Information Technology expert, Mr Richard Edet,  last Sunday pleaded with state governments to
grant the right of way for service providers to install their optic fibre
infrastructure.

Edet, who is the Managing Director of SAP Technologies Ltd.,
made the plea in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

He said that granting such rights would accelerate the
broadband development, especially in the under-served areas.

Edet expressed concern about a situation where state
governments denied operators the right to erect vital infrastructure for
bridging the digital world.

“Even some African countries denied such right to companies
seeking to lay submarine cables on their shores.

“These are people who have invested so much money to build
the networks,’’ he said.

Edet advised state governments to encourage interested
companies through right of way, to stimulate digital development in Nigeria.

He also urged the states to allow new investors to stabilise
before imposing taxes on them.

“Let their businesses thrive before you start to police them
to pay taxes,’’ Edet said.

He said that many Internet users still complained about low
speed, adding that this could be solved by allowing operators to build their
optic infrastructure.

Edet also urged the regulators to encourage service
providers to build infrastructure for the revolution that would improve the
Internet speed.

“This will accelerate the growth of broadband infrastructure
that will enable the country to become one of the developed ICT economies,” he
said.

According to him, provision of broadband services should be
a collective effort of the stakeholders to aid the development of vital
infrastructure.