At ATCON conference, stakeholders seek greater broadband penetration

Stakeholders in the telecoms industry have called for more attention to achieve greater broadband penetration in the sector to enhance service delivery and to also improve the nation’s economy generally.

The stakeholders made this call at the just-concluded conference organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), tagged, Post Nigeria National broadband plan 2013-2018, with the theme, ‘Success, Prospects and Challenges.

The Minister of Communication, Mr Adebayo Shittu in his submission said Nigeria through the years has been improving its use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enabled services to drive socio – economic activities and has created enormous need for sustainable broadband capacity and improve quality of services.

He expressed delight to address strategic Stakeholders on the occasion of Post-Nigeria National Broadband Plan 2013 – 2018, which is expected to preview the performance with the exited broadband plan and collate suggestions for the development of the new strategy plan 2019 – 2023.

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He recalled that the Nigerian National Broadband Council was established to provide periodic evaluation of progress, facilitate coordination and collaboration and highlight areas of program adjustment to permit the realisation of new and emerging opportunities.

In his address, the President of ATCON, Mr Olusola Teniola, said the purpose of the meeting was principally to see how the entire industry could work towards achieving a greater broadband penetration (the industry suggests 70 per cent as being realistic) in the next five years by removing, collectively those obstacles that worked against the initial plan.

He also said the strategic underlining purpose of the meeting was principally to see how the entire industry (Telecoms/ICT) can harness their collective energy in achieving the above- mentioned target.

He noted that the previous plan has helped all stakeholders to have a focus as to what should have been done to ‘shift the dial’ in deepening the broadband penetration.

“NCC and NITDA would also be expected to share their experiences with the stakeholders and highlight some of the successes and challenges confronted while it executed the plan,” he stated.

Dr Agu Collins, the representative of the Director of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said this was the event that will help assess the National Broadband Plan 2013-2018, in terms of its achievements, challenges, and way forward, thereby increasing broadband penetration in the country within the next five years.