A strong Nigerian delegation would make it to this year’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World holding in Bangkok, Thailand from November 19 -22. Feelers from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecom regulator, say the Presidency would lead the charge to market the potentials of the nation’s broadband market rated one of the most lucrative in the world.
At last year’s edition of the ITU show in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates,, it was Vice President Namadi Sambo who led the Nigerian delegation. A Presidency source told our correspondent that similar high powered delegation would grace the event in Thailand in which Nigeria has a stand and is considered one of the high flying nations in telecom.
The ITU showpiece is coming on the heels of the formal adoption of broadband roadmap by Nigerian government and weeks after Nigeria hosted the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Forum with the theme “Innovation Through Broadband”.
The Bangkok event is considered a veritable opportunity for Nigeria to showcase the limitless potentials of its broadband market described by the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, as “very huge”.
Broadband is seen as the next big bang in the nation’s telecom after the revolutionary break of mobile telephony and Juwah hopes the country would seize the opportunity of the ITU telecom festival to invite the world to invest in one of the world’s most clement business clime in telecom.
Nigeria has earned a reputation as a good place to do telecom business, thanks to the success of the GSM companies but the country has seen little in terms of broadband penetration.
To make it attractive for investors, Juwah said the Nigerian government has studied different models and has adopted the open access model where government would provide major infrastructure and rent out to licensed operators to make it easier for penetration. “We are in full realization of the impact of broadband to the overall development of the economy in terms of stimulation of business activities, providing support for other economy, providing living and governance, and improving relations between Nigeria and other nations with fellow Commonwealth countries.
“The good news is that government, at the highest level in Nigeria, has adopted broadband as a platform to leverage and improve on the gains already made in the telecoms sector. The National Broadband Development Plan 2013 – 2018 produced by the Presidential Broadband Committee provided a realistic 80 percent penetration in its road map for broadband development in Nigeria”, the NCC EVC explained.
