NCC To License InfraCos For Broadband Deployment

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said it was on the threshold of licensing five more InfraCos for other regions, in order to address telecoms infrastructural deficit in the country.

While licensing  two Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) for Lagos and the North Central, the Director of  Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo said that the InfraCos were meant to rollout infrastructure for the deployment of broadband across the country.

He explained that it may not be easy to achieve the target, if the commission does not provide enough spectrums that will support broadband deployment across the country.

“It is for this reason that NCC decided to license the 2.6GHz spectrum as well as the 23GHz, 38GHz and 42GHz spectrum bands. We are doing this in preparation for the licensing of InfraCos. After we must have licensed additional spectrums, we will then license the InfraCos and by that time we will be sure of enough spectrum availability that will support broadband deployment, since the spectrum is the oxygen that sustains broadband deployment and penetration,” Ojobo said.

NCC has proposed that the timeline for the utilization of the new 38GHz and 42GHz spectrums, will take effect between three and six months and would be awarded on a ‘first come-first serve’ basis.

The additional spectrum licenses, according to the NCC, would provide the much needed spectrum that will enable the InfraCos address the increasing demand for broadband services in the country.

“Spectrum is the oxygen that will give life to telecoms business. Today, data subscribers will complain about slow internet speed and this is a function of insufficient spectrum bandwidth to drive traffic. NCC is therefore poised to ensure massive broadband infrastructure in the country, and the initiative is to ensure that the operators have enough spectrum to deploy broadband services in the country,” says Ojobo

While addressing the challenges of the telecoms sector, Ojobo said the deficit in telecoms infrastructure has remained the biggest challenge in the industry.

“Broadband penetration is still at 10 per cent, but by the time additional InfraCos are licensed, bottlenecks on Right of Way (RoW) are removed and issues of delay in approvals for the deployment of telecoms facilities are reduced, then we will experience a massive buildout of telecoms infrastructure, which will improve service quality and also increase broadband penetration from its present 10 per cent penetration to an appreciable level of penetration,” Ojobo said.