Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the country would need investments in 120,000 additional kilometres of Fibre Optic Cables to meet the New National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2025 target.
The NCC further said that the country needs massive investments in about 40,000 additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) to ensure the plan does not become a mirage.
The Executive Commissioner (Stakeholders’ Management), NCC, Adeleke Adewolu, who stated this, while delivering the keynote address at the Third Yearly Stakeholders Conference of Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA), themed: “Transforming Lagos State into a Smart City Hub in Africa – The Government’s Infrastructure Approach”, in Lagos, said that the theme of the conference is very apt since the broadband infrastructure is the backbone of Smart Cities.
“The NCC and LASIMRA must inevitably engage and collaborate, but sometimes in disagreement, as Lagos State is the hub of telecoms and technology activities in Nigeria”, Adewolu stated.
The NCC Commissioner, however, urged the government at various levels to increase Internet capacity in the country due to its huge infrastructure deficit, saying “for instance, we need over 120,000 additional kilometres of Fibre Optic Cables from the current figure of fewer than 60,000 kilometres and about 40,000 additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) to meet the NNBP targets by the year 2025.” The current fibre deployment in Nigeria is above 50,000km.