By Abdulfatah Babatunde
Stakeholders in the telecom industry have identified some obstacles likely to impede the deployment of fibre optic cables across the country.
They feared that the state governments, in particular, “might truncate the Federal Government’s 90,000 kilometres cable project”.
The telecom players spoke during the sixth edition of the Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFO), on Wednesday, in Lagos.
PIAFO is a focus on Nigeria’s renewed strategic agenda for the digital economy.
TheNewsZenith reports that the theme of the Forum is “Accelerating Our Collective Prosperity through Technical Efficiency”.
According to them, without addressing some issues that fall under state government control, the project would become a futile exercise.
Such issues are the Right of Way charges, multiple taxation and levies.
The Federal Government plans to implement the project through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
The government recently announced that the project would complement existing connectivity for universal access to the Internet across the country.
It would also provide the Nigerian digital economy with the backbone infrastructure it needed.
The telecoms stakeholders stressed the need to ensure the successful implementation of the project.
Executive Director of Broadbased Communications, Chidi Ibisi, in a presentation, commended the government’s SPV initiative as a good plan.
Ibisi spoke on “Harmonising Nigeria’s Fibre Deployment Strategies for Effective Implementation”.
According to him, the initiative can help bridge the country’s current digital infrastructure gap.
However, to address the envisaged obstacles, he cautioned that the government must address current challenges.
The government, he said, must address issues of “high cost of Right of Way (RoW), destruction of fibre during road construction and vandals, for this new SPV initiative to be successful”.
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Highlighting some of the challenges telecom operators face when deploying infrastructure,
Also speaking, the Group Chief Operating Officer of WTES Projects Limited, Mr Chidi Ajuzie, highlighted some challenges facing telecom operators when deploying infrastructure.
Ajuzie said the biggest challenge to fibre cable laying in Nigeria is the informal RoW by hoodlums in state governments.
“For states, a formal right of way is set and they are adopting it. But the informal side of the right of way is where the complexity has come today.
“If I’m trying to lay fibre in some communities here in Lagos, the first thing that happens is the trouble of so-called land owners (Omo Onile).
“Different sets of people will keep coming from one street to another and they charge you.
“How do we achieve adequate broadband infrastructure in this kind of situation?” he said.
Contributing, Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) suggested that state governments must take ownership of the project, to succeed.
““For the project to succeed, I think the governments at sub-nationals should take ownership.
“This issue of state governments seeing right of way as IGR should be a thing of the past.
“We can’t talk about the digital economy on one side and the government is seeing those who provide the services as sources of revenue,” Adebayo said.
Earlier in his opening address, the convener of PIAFo, Mr Omobayo Azeez, said the conference aimed to create a midpoint dialogue platform for digital economy stakeholders.
Azeez said it provides a platform to brainstorm, exchange perspectives, clear grey areas, harmonise thoughts and create a sense of collective responsibility.
The event focuses on Nigeria’s renewed strategic agenda for the digital economy.
According to him, the new digital economy blueprint of the federal government “challenges us on the possibilities of attaining new frontiers.
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