Last week, two major events occurred simultaneously, one was in Geneva, Switzerland while the other was in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital. In Geneva, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency that regulates information and communications technologies (ICTs) released a report which measures the progress nations make with ICT. In Abuja, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) member states gathered to push Nigeria to jump-start her much talked about broadband policy towards effective implementation.
The ITU’s “Measuring The Information Society 2013” a report which rates ICT Development Index (IDI) of nations, the progress they have made in the last one year, contains the latest figures and rankings of each nation, measuring their level of ICT access, use and skills. Conspicuously, Nigeria was there. But a discerning look shows that whereas Nigeria jumped two places from 124 to 122 in the 2012 ICT Development Index, this 2013 edition shows that Nigeria has remained on the same spot 122 for the past 12 months.
ITU’s ICT Development Index ranks 157 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills, and compares 2011 and 2012 scores. It is widely recognised by government, UN agencies and industry as the most accurate and impartial measure of overall national ICT development. Some African countries ahead of Nigeria include South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana and Kenya.
While the report identifies a group of “most dynamic countries”, which have recorded above-average improvements in their IDI rank or value over the past 12 months including (in order of most improved): United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Barbados, Seychelles, Belarus, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Zambia, Australia, Bangladesh, Oman and Zimbabwe; our own dear country, Nigeria has however stagnated on the same spot with nothing to show for it.
The report also identifies the countries with the lowest IDI levels – the so-called Least Connected Countries (LCCs). Home to 2.4 billion people – one third of the world’s total population – the Least Connected Countries are also the countries that could potentially derive great benefits from better access to and use of ICTs in areas such as health, education and employment.
According to ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, “This year’s IDI figures show much reason for optimism, with governments clearly prioritizing ICTs as a major lever of socio-economic growth, resulting in better access and lower prices. Our most pressing challenge is to identify ways to enable those countries which are still struggling to connect their populations to deploy the networks and services that will help lift them out of poverty.”
Turning Rhetoric Into Broadband
In the past several years, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has trumpeted its desire to ensure that Nigerians have access to affordable broadband connectivity. From Engineer Ernest Nduwke’s era to the current executive vice chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, it has remained mere paper talk until the current Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, decided to take the bull by the horn by forming a Presidential Broadband team to midwife a National Broadband Policy for the nation.
The team which has delivered a voluminous document which President Goodluck Jonathan graciously approved wholly in addition to inaugurating a Presidential Broadband Council to implement the 2013 to 2018 Broadband Roadmap needs to be up and doing. According to the closing remarks of Johnson at the CTO forum, “We have heard impassioned pleas to turn “rhetoric into Broadband” if we are to redress the imbalances that keep the poor and un-connected continually marginalized while those that already have access are free to do more, with the relative ease that this technology brings.
“We have also considered the challenges of rolling out the very expensive infrastructure this technology need, of managing scarce resources to ensure ubiquitous, reasonably priced access. We have to use this forum and initiatives like the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), launched right here to bring the expertise together that could positively influence policy, roll out best practices and also conduct the research needed to take the guess work out of our decision making. We have to make more concerted and well thought out efforts to bring the previously unconnected to the Internet just as we roll out the Internet aggressively towards them”, the minister noted.
Exorbitant Right of Ways Charges
When it comes to connectivity, Nigeria has one of the most prohibitive costs. The federal, state and local government levels, including the communities want to share from the operators margins. With four submarine cables operating in the country namely: SAT 3 managed by Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (Nitel), Glo 1 by Globacom, MainOne by MainOne Cable Company and West Africa Cable System (WACS) managed by MTN. Nigeria expects a fifth cable, Africa Coast To Europe (ACE), before the end of November this year.
These cables in Nigeria are yet to reach the hinterlands with bandwidths. The cost of laying fibre optic cables connecting cities, states semi-urban to rural communities is prohibitive and a disincentive to the operators. One of the things the Ministry of Communications and NCC needs to address is the high cost of Right of Ways (RoWs) needed by telecommunications operators to move bandwidth from the landing point to all parts of the country.
Chief Executive Officer of Main One Cable, Mrs. Funke Opeke said “The cost of deployment is currently exorbitant in Nigeria” stressing that to ensure that Nigerians begin to enjoy the dividend of having broadband services in the country, the cost of RoW needed to be reviewed in the country. She advised government all levels to always build new roads with ducts where telecoms operators can easily lay their fibre optic cables for faster and efficient infrastructure deployment in the country.
Recently, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (Atcon) asked governments at all levels to reduce the fees charged for Right of Ways permission granted to telecommunications companies to lay fibre optic cables in the country.The Atcon members who met in Lagos at a roundtable discussion on the National Broadband Plan 2013-2018 said exorbitant fees charged by the federal, state and local government agencies may frustrate the objectives of the national broadband plan and make the targets unrealizable.
Cost of Connecting Nigeria
The cost of wiring all the 36 states in Nigeria with full broadband connection using fibre optic cables will surpass N123.22 billion ($795m) excluding the fees for Rights of Way (RoW) charged by agencies of government for allowing operators to dig and lay cables on roads and ducts. Already, long distance fibre exists, what state needs is fibre rings essentially to connect to long distance fibre. Within states, state capitals and major cities will also need fibre networks built and integrated.
According to the National Broadband Roadmap 2013-2018, “The cost of building metro fibre within cities is estimated at $60,000 per kilometre while the cost building fibre around states is estimated at $20,000 per kilometre. This difference can be attributed to the higher number of civil works, road crossings and restoration that will be required for metro fibre networks. In calculating the funding required for state ringed fibre optic infrastructure, the respective states have been broken into large.
Medium and small requiring an approximated fibre network of 750km, 500km and 250km respectively”, the council said. Larges states (750km) include: Bauchi, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Yobe, Zamfara, Nigeri and Kaduna. Medium States (500km) are: Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Plateau, Oyo, Edo, Ogun, Cross River, Kano, Delta, Nassarawa and Gombe. The small states (250km) are: Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa.
According to the Presidential Council’s calculations, based on the state categories, eight large states with 750km will cost $20,000 per kilometre totalling $120 million. Sixteen medium states with 500km will cost $20,000 per kilometre totalling $160 million. Also, the 12 small states with about 250km will cost $20,000 per kilometre totalling $60 million. This brings the cost of all state rings to $340 million.
While the average cost of building metro fibre (including electronics but excluding RoW charges) in Nigeria is estimated at $60,000 per kilometre. An average state capital (excluding Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt which already have substantial fibre or duct infrastructure) requires 250km of fibre for a metro ringed design. The cost for the 33 state capitals is estimated at $495 million. This brings the total cost of states and state capitals to $795 million.
Need For Cost-Cutting Model
While the rhetoric has ended in Abuja, it is up to our regulators and government to move swiftly and take up the opportunities available to connect the citizenry to the internet and affordable telecommunications services. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who represented Vice President Namadi Sambo at the forum, said the ministry was championing co-location, cost of roll-out to drive the last mile.
“We’re working with the state governments and other government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to see that just about 10 per cent cost of total deployment of fibre infrastructure is spent on the Right of Way,” she said. According to Johnson, “We are working on access and affordability through reduction in taxes and sharing of infrastructures. We need to work on infrastructure sharing for economic of scale.”
She acknowledged that the cost of internet in Nigeria was still considered high, noting that by working on cost-cutting model of deployment for the operators, end users will also have access to affordable internet access.
Affordable Internet for Nigerians
One of the most strategic platforms which Nigeria could leverage to fast track internet pervasiveness is by taking active part in the newly launched Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), a coalition to lead policy and regulatory reform and spur action to drive down artificially high internet prices in developing countries. By advocating for open, competitive and innovative broadband markets, A4AI aims to help access prices fall to below five per cent of monthly income worldwide, a target set by the UN Broadband Commission.
According to Dr. Robert Pepper Cisco’s vice president of global technology policy who moderated at the Ministerial Panel at the Abuja CTO forum, “One of the most important steps government and business leaders in Africa can take to encourage social and economic transformation is to focus on delivering universal broadband access. I’m looking forward to a robust discussion on how we can accelerate affordable broadband take-up across the continent, so that Africa can truly benefit from the Internet of Everything”.
The alliance stems from a collaboration between over 30 members from the private and public sectors of both the developed and developing countries and plans to reach the target set by the United Nations (UN) Broadband Commission to help internet access prices fall below 5 per cent of monthly income worldwide. Reaching this goal could help to connect two-thirds of the world to the internet and make universal access a reality.
Dr. Bitange Ndemo, World Wide Web Foundation honourary chairperson who was at the forum said Nigeria needs to drive down high internet prices. “In Kenya, we saw the number of internet users more than double in a single year after we liberalised markets. Now we need to spark the same revolution on broadband costs and access, not only in my country but around the world,” Ndemo said.
The alliance revealed that it planned to start in-country engagements with three to four countries by the end of 2013, expanding to at least twelve countries by the end of 2015. It is expected to produce an annual ‘Affordability Report’, with the first edition being unveiled in December 2013.
Inventor of the web and founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said, “The reason for the alliance is simple - the majority of the world’s people are still not online, usually because they can’t afford to be. The result of high prices is a widening digital divide that slows progress in vital areas such as health, education and science. Yet with the advent of affordable smartphones, new undersea cables and innovations in wireless spectrum usage, there is simply no good reason for the digital divide to continue.
“The real bottle-neck now is anti-competitive policies and regulations that keep prices unaffordable. The alliance is about removing that barrier and helping as many as possible get online at reasonable cost,” he said. It is up to the Nigerian government and its ICT regulators to put its house in order to reduce the prohibitive costs that deny millions of Nigerian from connecting to the affordable ITC services. The time to act is now.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Chima Akwaja
Quelle/Source: Leadership Newspapers, 13.10.2013
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