Senate laments poor broadband services

The Senate on Monday described as worrisome, the poor access of
Nigerians to broadband internet services despite the number of
undersea cables running across the country and the huge investment
channeled into the project.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, Senator
Gilbert Nnaji, made the observation when the Executive Vice
Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene
Juwah, led the management team of his agency to defend its 2015
budget proposal.
Nnaji noted with concern that the country finished year 2014 with
just 8 percent penetration into the broadband services after
stagnating at 6 percent between 2011 and 2013.
He said the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the
telecommunications operators to source foreign exchange only
through the interbank has constrained their efficiency level and
hampared their expantionary drive with its attendant effect on
quality of services.
The senator noted that there was a remarkable improvement on
capital project proposal of N21.1bn in 2015 compared to N15bn in
2014.
He, however said, “this cannot be said of the total amount proposed
for special projects which is N2.1bn in 2015 as opposed to N3.4 bn
in 2014.”
“In other words, while there is a greater emphasis on capital project
in 2015 as against 2014, special projects in 2015 do not appear to
enjoy the same attention,” He added.
Nnaji promised that his committee would look critically into the
issue of the State Accelerated Broad Band Initiative, which falls
under special project.
He wondered how the commission would carry out its task when it
has a significant role in assisting the private sector to build and run
a broadband infrastructure in all state capitals and selected major
cities across the country, when budget proposal for special duties
was reduced.
The NCC boss in his submission, explained that the federal agency
was planning to propose a bill before the National Assembly with a
view to tackling the challenges in the sectors.
Juwah said, “We have in conjunction with the National Assembly,
plan a bill on Telecom Critical Infrastructure which we hope will be
presented to the two chambers and be given accelerated hearing.
“We hope that most likely it will be in the interest of telecom
members and this committee in particular, if this bill is passed during
this parliamentary session.
“This bill will deal with vandalism of telecommunication
infrastructure and fibre cuts due to road networks, shutting off of
services by state governments, planning permit restrictions, right of
ways restrictions.
“We hope that if this bill is passed as federal legislation, all these
problems will be reduced and there will be a remarkable
improvement in the quality of service.
Juwah added that the agency’s broadband initiative had started and
already awarded two licences, one for Lagos and one for North
Central including Abuja.
He said, “These are licenses for the provision of metropolitan fibre
network.”
He added that the problem of the allocation was that the agency do
not get its budget passed on time.
The NCC boss said, “We have accrued money since this project
started from the last budget. We have looked at our budget
requirement and as the project is ongoing, we feel that we have
enough funds to cover the project.”