Association Wants Improved Broadband Penetration

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to improve broadband penetration in the country in 2013.

 President of ATCON, Mr Lanre Ajayi, told newsmen in Lagos that the call was necessary to reduce low penetration of broadband service in the country.

He said that Internet users still complained of poor services and in some cases inaccessibility, especially in rural areas.

Ajayi said that the average speed of broadband was slow and with a penetration rate of just about six per cent.

“It is not sufficient as demand has already far outstripped supply.

“While some countries like Ghana have gone far in defining access to super fast Internet as a fundamental human right, Nigeria’s broadband access remains low at six per cent.

“This situation can prevent the country from becoming a knowledge-economy,” he said.

The expert identified the prevalent multiple regulation and taxation by state governments as major hindrance to deployment of broadband infrastructure.

He said that broadband service would also facilitate the provision of public services in the health, education, agriculture as well as other sectors of the economy

Ajayi said broadband technologies were essentially transforming the way we lived and represented the country’s best hope of hastening progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

The expert said that Nigeria had yet to benefit from accessible broadband services provided by subsea cables with the over 110 million mobile users in the country. The expert said that ATCON was committed to supporting government’s broadband reform to provide access to broadband service for Internet users in 2013.

He urged the Federal Government to provide special incentives to operators to encourage them to increase their investment in broadband roll out.

Ajayi said that clear government policy and independent regulation could attract investments and fuel the country’s improvement in voice service.