Prof. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy and the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, have promised to continue to drive policy initiatives that promote investment in infrastructure in the Nigerian telecom industry in order to deepen connectivity to enhance the nation’s growth and development.
They spoke at a reception marking the landing of the Equiano undersea Cable System in Nigeria at the Open Access Data Centre at Lekki in Lagos.
They commended Google LLC, the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), and other investors for bringing additional bandwidth capacity into the country to drive connectivity and growth.
The Minister said the Federal Government would continue to drive the implementation of existing digital economy-oriented policies already put in place by the current administration.
He also promised an enabling environment that encourages foreign and local investment in infrastructure project such as the way Google and its co-investors have done.
Besides,Danbatta said the commission’s expectations, initiatives, and vision towards increasing broadband penetration, quality of service, advancement of a digital economy, and commitment to improving national security through technological advancement, are on the priority list of its regulatory interventions.
He expressed delight that Equiano has joined the list of other submarine cables at the shores of Nigeria, including SAT3 cable, MainOne cable, Glo1 cable as well as the African Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable by Dolphin and West African Cable System (WACS) by MTN.
He assured stakeholders of commission’s commitment toward ensuring that the huge bandwidth capacity from these cables at shore in Lagos would be transmitted to different parts of the country to drive robust and ubiquitous infrastructure.
He expressed optimism that Google’s investment in the subsea cable, Equiano, will be significant in driving NCC’s ongoing implementation of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, which aims at increasing broadband penetration to 70 per cent by 2025.
“We are hopeful that Equiano, together with earlier undersea cables in the country, will have additional landing points in the hinterlands through collaborative efforts with NCC-licensed Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos). This will help to reduce retail data prices significantly and thereby complementing the commission’s efforts at ensuring that affordable Internet services are available to boost Commission’s ongoing broadband policy initiatives”.
Danbatta reiterated the objective linkages of policies and plans in the telecom ecosystem, and the national economic strategies.
