Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Eugene Juwah said at a press conference in Abuja ahead of the International Telecoms Union Conference (ITU 2012) in Dubai next month that the commission is keen to continue its success in the Internet sector across the country and has plans to roll out new infrastructure in rural areas to increase penetration.
His comments came as frustration among shareholders over ongoing poor service quality continues to hamper telecom operators in Nigeria.
“Given our position within the sub-region and indeed the continent, and our role as a regulator within the framework of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), we are desirous of partaking in initiatives, or institutional frameworks that will facilitate the integration of telecommunications resources and facilities inAfrica. Broadband presents one of such windows that could be exploited for the much sought-after sub-regional integration,” Juwah said.
He added that many corporate organizations individuals and even ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) “had to depend largely on imported bandwidth by foreign operators until recently when MainOne, Glo 1, MTN WACS and NigComSat 1R began to offer broadband services.”
He said: “Nigeria has made sizeable progress in GSM and voice telephony but Internet penetration is still a far cry, as many people have had to contend with high cost of bandwidth from the few broadband operators in the country.”
Joseph Mayton
