Adebayo Tasks Government on Last Mile Infrastructure

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) has charged government on the need to rebuild last mile infrastructure in order to aid broadband penetration in the country.
He said copper and fibre should not be regarded as old technology because there is no where in the world where wireless access has become a direct replacement for wired line access. 
“On the best mobile technology today, there is a limit to the capacity you can have. What gives that limitless capacity and access is fibre and copper infrastructure and there is the need to rebuild our lastmile.”
Expectations are high that broadband Internet access in Nigeria will improve by the coming of Glo 1, MainOne and other new entrants. With this international access, Internet access is expected to become cheaper, better and faster but the challenge is that of capacity in terms of the quantum of what can be delivered.
He therefore asked government to eliminate all form of charges associated with the “right of way”, saying free access should be given for people to build cable infrastructure without hindrance.
Adebayo who stated this in an exclusive chat with Nigeria CommunicationWeek, said as a policy, all roads that are being upgraded and redesigned should be provided with sufficient telecommunications dots in order for operators not to go through the recurring procedure of seeking “right of way”.
The Alton boss explained that not only will that result in difficulties in laying cable access but also in laying power access when rebuilding the lastmile intricate infrastructure.
He noted that this can be an added line of business for outsource companies as they can own the right of use of infrastructure on such roads and also lease infrastructure to operators on such roads.
“Operators do not necessarily need to seek “right of way” if there are infrastructure companies holding “right of way” on roads, who will build infrastructure for everybody’s use. This will improve access, reduce capital outlays and will go a long way to improve on penetration,” Adebayo added.