Stakeholders in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector have listed several obstacles frustrating broadband penetration in the country and chief among them is the difficulties in obtaining ‘right of way’ required for infrastructure deployment.
Because of the challenges; bandwidth a major ingredient for telecommunications service delivery especially for data and video has been elusive to Nigerians due to high cost.
Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body of operators in the telecom space, said that granting multiple operational licenses to operators to provide metro and national fibre infrastructure does not guarantee investment in that regard, but implementation of well articulated policies that will encourage operators to invest their money.
He said government must go beyond granting of licenses to eliminating those barriers such as bottlenecks in securing ‘right of way’, impediments to smooth network operations- where operators are forced to pay levies that are not legalized, and vandalisation.
Adebayo, explained that broadband services are anchored on availability of bandwidth, and that with excess capacity of it at our shore, investment need to be encouraged to distribute this capacity to various geographical areas of the country for broadband revolution to be experienced as is the case with voice service.
He added that operators that secured licenses to roll out broadband services with big money are yet to invest in provision of infrastructure because of clumsy process of securing ‘right of way’ from various government agencies.
‘Right of way’ is a legal instrument allowing operators to deploy infrastructure on federal or state roads at a fee.
He added that unless these barriers are addressed it may be difficult for operators to invest in infrastructure that will enable provision of broadband.
Mohammed Rudman, managing director, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, said operators face difficulty in obtaining a ‘Right of Way’ permit.
Rudman said that right of way which is a government permit to dig and lay fibre infrastructure for transmission of bandwidth and likes is too expensive.
He explained the current variations in the cost of bandwidth in the country as where the commodity lands at the country’s shore for $150 per megabyte base on 155Mbps while the undersea cable operators sell to Tier 2 operators who are telcos and ISP at $300 who in turn sell to distributors for between $1000 and $2000 per megabyte.
According to him, broadband is still at rooftops because of frequent fibre cuts due to sabotage and other projects such as road construction.