By Chinenye Anuforo
As a result of improved broadband/telecoms service delivery to Nigerians, the third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) base transceiver stations (BTS) deployment in the country has increased from 30,000 to 53,460 while Fibre Optic Transmission cables expanded from 47,000km to 54,725km in the last five years.
These were parts of industry growth data reeled out by the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta at a briefing for the new Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Festus Yusuf Daudu, on the functions and regulatory activities of the Commission in Abuja.
In the comprehensive briefing, the EVC spoke on NCC’s enabling laws, mandates of NCC, structure of NCC, implementation approach of its mandates and methodology, key focus and targets, scorecards, the new soon-to-be-unveiled Strategic Management Vision (SVP), NCC’s contributions to the economy, various regulatory frameworks aimed at improving service delivery, challenges confronting the sector and proposed solutions, among others.
According to Danbatta, the effective regulatory regime emplaced by the leadership of the Commission has resulted in increased deployment of infrastructure by telecoms operators, which in turn, helped to improve broadband penetration and other related service delivery in the telecoms industry.
“The BTS, fibre optic cables and other related infrastructure are central to the provision of improved service experience for Nigerians by their respective telecoms service providers,” he said, adding that the licensed Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) are also expected to add 38,296km to optic fibre cables when they commence fully operations.
According to the EVC, as at November, 2020, active telephony subscribers stood at 208 million with teledensity standing at 108.92 per cent while active Internet subscriptions were 154.9 million and a broadband penetration of 45.07 per cent, among others.