To bridge gaps identified in Nigeria\u2019s fibre infrastructure rollout, the Federal Government is hoping to launch the \u2018National Dig Once Policy\u2019 in the country, December\u00a0 2022.
\nWith the December target, the FG said it was giving the final touches to the proposed document.
\nMinister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, made the disclosure in Lagos at the just-concluded fourth edition of \u2018Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) on Dig Once Policy and Fibre Strategy in Nigeria\u2019 with the theme: \u2018Laying the Foundation for Ubiquitous Broadband for Nigeria\u2019s Economic Breakthrough\u2019.
\nAlready, Nigeria is said to have a 120,000km of fibre shortfall, after having deployed over 40,000km.
\nPantami, at the event organised by Business Metrics Nigeria, noted that the policy would facilitate seamless deployment of fibre optic as a backbone broadband infrastructure across the country to bridge the digital divide and boost the digital economy.
\nRepresented by the Secretary of the Broadband Implementation Steering Committee (BISC) and Head, Wireless Network at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Usman Aliyu, Pantami said the policy\u00a0 was recognised in the Nigeria Broadband Plan 2020-2025 as a critical element to attaining 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.
\nAccording to him, the policy, which seeks to promote the installation of ready-made buried fibre conduit for seamless fibre deployment in the country, had received necessary inputs coming from robust engagements with relevant stakeholders for the effective realisation of its essence.
\n\u201cSome of the objectives of the policy are provisioning of shared infrastructure for existing internet service providers and entrants; promotion of installation of ready-made buried fibre conduit for broadband deployment; and reduction of the barriers to entry for Internet Service Providers.
\n\u201cOthers are: to promote coordination and reduce the number of excavations and disruptions caused due to fibre installation works; to lower the cost of broadband internet service deployment; to promote the joint installation of infrastructures in a single phase and avoid unnecessary future digging as well as encouraging infrastructure; and to promote a unified and affordable pricing regime across the federation for Right of Ways\u201d, he said.
\nHe also said once the policy becomes operational in Nigeria, there would be a lower cost of repair and maintenance of installed fibre infrastructure and a lower cost of broadband Internet service deployment.
\nWhile delivering a paper on Fibre Infrastructure Rollout Ecosystem Development to Reach 60 per cent Fibre to Site at 120,000km by 2025, Ashwani Mishra, ICT Director at Huawei Technologies, recommended ways Nigeria can achieve fibre infrastructure targets by 2025 as stipulated in the NBP 2020-2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To bridge gaps identified in Nigeria\u2019s fibre infrastructure rollout, the Federal Government is hoping to launch the \u2018National Dig Once Policy\u2019 in the country, December\u00a0 2022. With the December target, the FG said it was giving the final touches to the proposed document. Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, made the disclosure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-icttelecom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307319,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307311\/revisions\/307319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}