Nigeria licenses 6 slots to expand broadband penetration

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The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, says the Federal Government has licensed six slots of the 2.6 MHz Spectrum for the deployment of 4G-LTE services in its efforts to broaden broadband penetration in Nigeria. Mr. Shittu said this on Friday in Kaduna at the 4th National Council of Communication Technology.

He said broadband penetration in Nigeria has reached 20.95 per cent, and internet penetration has reached 47.44 per cent, which makes Nigeria second in ranking in the African continent.

“There is the need to increase Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment of $38 billion,” the minister said.

Mr. Shittu disclosed that processes have commenced for the licensing of broadband services on the 5.4 GHz spectrum bank and allocation of 70/80 GHz band (E-Band).

On the theme of the meeting, which is ICT as a Focal Point For Economic Diversification, the minister said ICT can be re-engineered to help the Nigerian economy come out of recession.

According to him, ICT innovation and entrepreneurship, and the broadening of investment opportunities is one of the key avenues for increasing internally generated revenue in any economy.

The minister said the challenge was how to harness the opportunities thrown up by the new economy powered by ICT to address the issues of revenue, investments and cost savings. Mr. Shittu said he had facilitated the draft of a Sector Strategic Plan for 2016-2020, to chart a short term framework for the sector.

“Through Galaxy Backbone, Government has provided internet access to about 400 MDAs, over 11,000 nodes of wireless LAN to all MDAs at the Federal Secretariat.

“More than 40,000 email addresses for Government officials under the gov.ng &mil.ng domains.

“This has ensured that government data is hosted locally on a secured website with data back-up to MDAs and 200 servers hosting 94 MDAs,” he said.

In the area of spectrum management, Mr. Shittu said the Ministry of Communications has issued and renewed a total of 668 licenses from November 2015 to September 2016, generating about N500 million as government revenue.