Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology hopes to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the cost of broadband subscription by year 2015, which is some two years from now.
In a presentation at the Stakeholders’ Forum held in Lagos on Thursday, she said that telecommunication revolution in the country impacted positively on the rate payable for broadband subscription on yearly basis.
According to her, cost of broadband subscription on 3GB in 2011 was N93,000, however, the amount came down to N72, 000, barely a year the Ministry of established.
Meanwhile, the rate is currently N36,000 while the Ministry of Communication Technology targets N36, 000 by 2015.
Johnson noted that the country has witnessed tremendous growth on access to ICTs services, as statistics show that the teledensity with regards to fixed lines grew by 0.5 per cent in 2011 and expected to reach 10 per cent in 2015.
Also, broadband plan of the Government depicts that mobile subscription teledensity of the country would hit 98 per cent in the next two years, while mobile phone coverage of the rural areas of 40 per cent as at present will reach 60 per cent by then.
The Minister however decried that “whilst the number of mobile (GSM) subscription is increasing, fixed line subscription has stagnated and fixed wireless declined.
“Connectivity is concentrated in Urban, commercial areas; approximately 40 per cent of rural areas has no mobile coverage. Challenges in the operating environment are constituting a limiting factor on further expansion of telecom networks and quality of service.
On the Ministry’s strategy to tackle the challenges, she said Government is apt on increasing the spread and scope of communication infrastructure across Nigeria, and priorities roll-out to un-served and under –served areas.
To this effect, Johnson reiterated that the Ministry would continue to build on its mandate anchored on speeding up the building out of communications infrastructure so that all of Nigeria has access to good quality telecom services and high-speed internet and ensure that Nigerians have affordable and reliable access to devices and have the capacity to use them; “so that all Nigerians can share in the benefits of ICTs”.
She promised the stakeholders, especially from the private sector that Government would not relent on providing a predictable and stable environment that supports the development of the ICT sector, with particular attention to issues on Right of Way (RoW), multiple taxation, protection of telecomm infrastructure and return on investment.
She also said the federal government will encourage service providers to increase the number of telecommunications base stations in the country from the present 27,000 to 60,000 to meet the national target of five-fold increase in broadband penetration by 2018.
This will represent about 122 per cent growth level in the number of base stations in the country.
Johnson also restated the government's commitment to reducing operating costs of operators and ensure easier access to right-of-way to build telecoms infrastructure.
