Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has outlined measures to accelerate nationwide fibre penetration; non-discriminatory and open access; optimized deployment strategy; and co-operation of existing operators.
The Commission said that in order to achieve the nation’s economic transformation blueprint crystallized vision 20:2020, need has risen for a long term widespread deployment of a robust nationwide comprehensive backbone and metropolitan fibre infrastructure hence it mulls a typical Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN) deployment to drive broadband growth.
Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology, extolled the measure, stressing that a robust national broadband policy is a sure means of sustaining investments and ensure greater penetration of broadband in the country.
She said that they are her Ministry is working harmonise and reduced Right of Way (ROW) cost charges across states through the National Economic Council and the Presidency.
“We have made enough impact as an industry, in the last 10 years, but if we can deliver broadband it will spur greater growth in areas like e-commerce, agriculture, health; in fact, every sector of the economy will feel the impact. And that is why our broadband plan is very clear.
Highlighting on the backgrounds of the new model, Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of NCC, said that the Commission is committed to putting in place a new broadband deployment environment through an ‘Open Access Model’ in line with the National Broadband Plan.
“The ‘Open Access Model’ has been examined as the model for optic fibre transmission network deployment to bridge the current gap and deliver fast and reliable broadband services to households and businesses. The model is also envisaged to address the challenges of congested and unplanned towns, the challenges around infrastructure sharing and other issues such as high cost of Right of Way,” he said.
Under the new model, a typical NBN network and services infrastructure shall be segregated into three main layers including Passive Infrastructure layer comprising those responsible for the design, build and operation of the passive NBN infrastructure (e.g. rollout of fibre, maintenance of ducts, handholes and manholes).
Others are Wholesale layer who are involved in the design, build and operation of the active NBN infrastructure (e.g. terminal equipment, optic fibre electronics, routers, switches, data centers). And Retail Service Providers (RSP) that purchase bandwidth connectivity from wholesale operator (s) and compete with each others in providing competitive and innovative services to end-users.
The proposed industry structure, thus consists of InfraCos (Layer 1B and Layer 2); Licensed InfraCo(s) that are geographically focused.
Juwah explained that InfraCos would provide wholesale Layer 2 transmission services on a non- discriminatory, open access, price regulated basis, among other functions.
Mr. Lanre Ajayi, president, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said that the model is a welcome development, although the Association members would debate on the nitty-gritty of the implementations plans.