The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission,
(NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, has charged the Federal government and
States across the nation to take a cue from Anambra State which has waived the
Right of Way charges entirely to facilitate the drive towards greater broadband
penetration within the state.
He was speaking at a forum organised by the Anambra State Government where he was represented by the Commission’s Director for Digital Economy, Dr.Austin Nwaulune.
“Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, is a major limiting factor to provision of broadband services in Nigeria, as it slows down network deployment with the cost of the limited capacities ultimately passed to the subscribers.
“Knowing this, the Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) FBCS,FNCS;FIIM and the Commission’s Management led by my humble self are committed to keep dialoguing with the Federal and State Governments to lower the charges to N145 per linear meter earlier agreed or waive the charges entirely as we know that this is the path to progress in our drive for Broadband propelling rapid roll-out of services and better the livelihood of Nigerians through the myriads of services that come with the Digital Economy where Fibre Infrastructure play a major role.
“I will not end this remarks without calling on the other state governors to emulate the two states that have entirely waived the RoW charges for Network operators. I also do urge His Excellency to be our advocate to his other colleagues to emulate their elimination of RoW charges.
“This for sure will unleash economic wellbeing tomorrow; turning our teaming youths to job creators instead of seekers, for those that choose to be innovators and entrepreneurs and millions of technology jobs for those that choose to seek white collar jobs.
“Giving up the RoW fees today is like separating seed that you will sow to guaranty a prosperous future (Digital foundation) in numerous thematic areas; Commerce, Education, Agriculture, Finance and Trade Education Health and Social, Business and Industry, Transport and energy, Safety and Security e.t.c
Earlier in his speech, the EVC spoke of on-going efforts of the Commission to provide critical enabling infrastructure for the entire South East region through Zinox Technologies, an Infrastructure Company.
“I am particularly delighted to inform you that the Commission in the drive for Broadband has licensed Infrastructure Companies a.k.a Infraco for the South East and five (5) other zones of the Federation including Lagos as a special zone.
“Under this initiative, the South-East Infraco licensee (Messrs. Zinox Technologies Ltd.) will be required to provide at least one (1) Point-of-Access (PoA) in each of the 95 LGA’s that constitute the region and interconnect them with 1,314Km of Optic Fiber Cable (OFC).