one world one connection

Why Governments should

implement a National Broadband

Policy

Commonwealth Broadband Forum, Abuja 2015

Every 10% increase in broadband penetration in developing countries results in a commensurate increase of 1.3% in GDP

(Zhen-Wei Qiang, World Bank economist)

Synopsis

How do we drive this?

The increased relevance of a Broadband-enabled ICT industry in Nigeria

2013 Rebased GDP figures put ICT’s contribution at 8.68% or N6.97 trillion. Oil and Gas has trickled down to

14.4%

Rebased Nigerian GDP

Oil & Gas Services ICT Manufacturing

Pre Rebased GDP

Oil & Gas Services ICT Manufacturing

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN

The implementation of the National Broadband Plan (2013-2018) which has set a target of a five-fold increase in broadband

penetration by 2017. This policy is expected to facilitate the growth of ISPs and will also see new telecommunication

companies

SPECTRUM Bitflux won 30 MHz Frequency In The 2.3 GHz Band for

the delivery of broadband wireless

INFRACO

MainOne & IHS won InfraCo for Lagos & North Central. This signifies an opportunity to deepen

infrastructure investments in Nigeria and to assure

that the Broadband future which is critical to the

growth of the economy is achieved.

NGREN

The NgREN, the national REN for Nigeria

established to provide connectivity

infrastructure and service layers for

innovation in teaching and research in Nigeria.

USPF

The Universal Service Provision Fund was established by the

Federal Government of Nigeria to facilitate the widest possible

access to telecommunications services for greater social equality and inclusion for the

people of Nigeria.

Broadband in Nigeria: Overview

Broadband penetration currently circa 10%

Broadband in Nigeria: Quick Facts

Circa 10 Terabytes of capacity in Nigerian landing points

Mobile internet penetration: 83m or 49% of population

By 2018, 80% internet connections via wireless/mobile broadband, 20% via fixed

fiber-optic line

NCC InfraCo licenses for Lagos and North Central

National target of 30% broadband penetration by 2018

Smart States: Lagos, Ondo, Cross Rivers, Bayelsa, The FCT

Challenges Solutions Proprietary dominance of Infrastructure and Access

• Unbundling and Promoting Open Access to enable

competition in the market, allowing Government to own and regulate the pricing and spurring competition

Policy

• More effective spectrum management framework for

competition and shared infrastructure, opening industry to more players, and forces high quality of service.

• Consumer protection is also key as it regulates the pricing.

Government perception of telecommunications as cash cow

• Government needs to drive focus and investment in ICT as an enabler of jobs and economic growth

• Reduced tolerance for corruption and mismanagement of telecom infrastructure and unused spectrum, assets etc.

However…

Addressing Access

Infrastructure

Regulatory/Policy

Content

What is required?

Access for All

Infrastructure Sharing Funding

PPP Collaboration + Smart City

Infrastructure Protection

Infrastructure

Open Access Initiative

NCC Infraco licenses for all regions

Harmonised Taxes and RoW Government online etc

Regulatory/Policy

What is required? Businesses to focus on local content development

Financial motivation

Encourage indigenous hosting of content

Encourage cluster ecosystem e.g Technology, etc

Content

Broadband has enabled the e-Commerce landscape Today, leading online stores achieve about $2 million worth of

transactions per week (approximately N1.5bn per month)

15,000 orders per day, with market size valued at $550 million (N88 billion).

Expected to grow to $13 billion (N2.5 trillion) in 2018

Konga.com, Jumia.com, DealDey, QuikTellers, WakaNow,

RyteDeals, Checki.com, Buga.com

20,000 direct jobs created since 2012 i.e logistics, web designers, call centers etc

Rise of SMEs/Middle Class/Value Added Services All these achieved with <10% broadband penetration

Industry in focus: e-Commerce

Broadband is the foundation and propeller of development in a knowledge-driven economy

Broadband presents unlimited potential for enabling entire new

industries to emerge; enhanced performance, reduce youth unemployment, increased GDP, facilitate cluster ecosystems

Implementation of broadband policy to contribute N190 billion to

GDP*

Every 1000 new subscribers of broadband Internet result in the creation of 80 new jobs

Why shouldn’t governments implement a National Broadband agenda?

Nigeria needs to move up the value chain beyond over dependence on natural resources, and into the labour intensive service

economies

Parting shot

Broadband offers this leap.