Stakeholders in the telecommunications industry have said the Federal Government’s plan to deploy 90,000 kilometers of fibre optic cables across the country will face several obstacles, especially from state governments, that might truncate the project.
According to them, without addressing the current issue of Right of (RoW) charges, multiple taxation and levies, which are under the control of state governments, the project, which is to be implemented through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), will be an exercise in futility.
The stakeholders, who spoke during the sixth edition of the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) in Lagos, which was a focus on Nigeria’s renewed strategic agenda for digital economy.
They stressed the need to ensure the successful implementation of the project, which was announced recently by the Federal Government to complement existing connectivity for universal access to the internet across Nigeria and provide the Nigerian digital economy with the backbone infrastructure it needs.
Presenting a paper on the topic, ‘Harmonising Nigeria’s Fibre Deployment Strategies for Effective Implementation,’ Executive Director of Broadbased Communications, Mr Chidi Ibisi, said while the government’s SPV initiative is a good plan that can help the country bridge its current digital infrastructure gap, the government would need to address current challenges.
“The issues of high cost of Right of Way (RoW), destruction of fibre by road construction companies and vandals all need to be addressed for this new SPV initiative to be successful,” he said.
Highlighting some of the challenges telecom operators face when deploying infrastructure, the Group Chief Operating Officer of WTES Projects Limited, Mr Chidi Ajuzie, said the biggest challenge to fibre cable laying in Nigeria is the informal RoW by hoodlums in states.
“For states, a formal Right of Way is set and some states are adopting it but the informal side of the Right of Way is where the complexity has come today.
“If I am trying to lay fibre in some communities here in Lagos, the first thing that happens is the so-called land owners (omo onile) will come and different set of people will keep coming from one street to another and they charge you. How do we achieve adequate broadband infrastructure in this kind of situation?” he queried.
According to the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga Adebayo, for the 90,000 kilometres fibre project to succeed, state governments have to take ownership.
He said: “For the project to succeed, I think the governments at sub-nationals should take ownership. This issue of state governments seeing Right of Way as IGR (internally generated revenue)should be a thing of the past.
“We can’t talk about the digital economy on one side and the government is seeing those who provide the services as sources of revenue.
“The government has always come up with good policies, but the implementation, particularly when they are tested far afield, is the biggest problem. Governors will go to Abuja and say ‘in my state, I will give the Right of Way free of charge.”
“When you go to such a state, they may give you the Right of Way for zero or N1, but they will give you developmental levy, education levy, state impact levy, ecosystem levy. When you add all of these together, it is more than the Right of Way charges. So, who is playing who?”
Making vital contributions at the forum, Dr Ayotunde Coker, the Chief Executive Officer of Open Access Data Centre (OADC), stressed the need for the fibre project to be executed by the private sector even as the World Bank is expected to fund it with up to $3 billion.
He said: “The World Bank can put money into the government but it needs private sector partnerships as the execution engine and that is what we have been pushing for in Africa.
“The key thing is that when the World Bank puts the money in, it should engage the private sector, figure out the policies that it needs to do and enable the private sector to execute them effectively and make it as open as possible. With that, they can achieve what they are trying to achieve.”
Coker further stressed that for the success of the project, Nigeria should learn lessons of what didn’t work in the past to achieve the new broadband penetration targets with the fibre range that is required.
“Meaningful broadband is what we need rather than just a huge set of megabits per second implementation. We need superhighway fibres. We need the distribution of the backbone that allows us then to fan out.”
Earlier in his opening address, the convener of PIAFo, Mr Omobayo Azeez, said the conference was to create a midpoint dialogue platform for digital economy stakeholders across both the public and private divides to brainstorm, exchange perspectives, clear grey areas, harmonise thoughts and create a sense of collective responsibility towards accelerating collective prosperity through technical efficiency.
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