The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said it will subsidise funds for deployment of 318 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in unserved and underserved locations in the country in 2019.
The Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made this known on Thursday in Lagos, during the Nigeria ICT Impact CEO Forum (NIICF).
The forum, organised by ICT Watch Magazine, had the theme, “Connecting the Unconnected’’.
Represented by Babagana Digima, Assistant Director, Special Duties Department, NCC, Danbatta said the subsidy, which would be through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), would ensure the availability of connectivity to the unconnected.
He said that connecting the unconnected was globally a huge task marked by various challenges ranging from technical and business considerations.
According to him, the clear consensus on the part of governments and international organisations is that “everybody must be connected’’.
“Providing connectivity to the unconnected comes with its own set of challenges, especially in developing countries like ours, where other complementary infrastructure such as power, transmission and transport are non-existent or inadequate.