Nigerian Govt. Deploys Additional 18,000km Fibre Infrastructure to Complement 38,000km Available

In order to boost the broadband coverage across Nigeria, the Government has started the deployment of 18,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure to already existing 38,000km cabling with it’s National Broadband Penetration Programme.

This was stated by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu at the just-concluded 5th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China.

Shehu said, the National Broadband Penetration Programme is part of the current administration’s ambitious targets for a national broadband network to harness the potential of the internet and digital access to jobs, education, healthcare, identity management and to increase productivity in the public sector.

To make this happen, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council have inaugurated the National Broadband Penetration Programme. This plan is to within four years, provide fibre connectivity to all 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria.

“Government’s role is to provide the right licensing framework, as well as the necessary subsidies to encourage investment.”

He also revealed that two additional infrastructure companies had been licensed in 2018 to roll out broadband infrastructure in the country. He stressed that “together with previous licensees, and other private sector players, these companies would help to implement the government’s vision of total national broadband connectivity.”

He also revealed that the current administration had begun the development of “Technology & Innovation Hubs” across the country, in partnership with the private sector as well as the government partnerships with Facebook, Google, and Huawei Technologies of China to roll out high-quality Internet across the country.