The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), federal government are set to brainstorm on how to realise the 70 per cent broadband penetration set in the new national broadband plan 2020-2025.
The maiden virtual event which holds on Thursday March 25, 2021, will seek the buy-in of the various sub-groups under the membership of ATCON to ensure that the new Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 is adequately positioned to deliver its ultimate purposes for the generality of Nigerians more quickly and strategically.
A statement signed by ATCON’s president, Ikechukwu Nnamani and its publicity secretary, Wole Abu, stated that ATCON will review and provide insightful approaches and solutions along with Ministry, NCC, NITDA and State Governments as to what needs to be done to support various programmes and projects that are earmarked for the successful implementation of the previous National Broadband Plan under past ministers.
According to the statement, the strategic objectives virtual forum will complement the various strategic activities already embarked upon by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy; and to achieve the set target of Broadband penetration in Nigeria with great speed.
It will also leverage on the wide spectrum of ATCON sub-group for effective participation in the new Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 by giving them the opportunity to access the plan and suggest various ways to speed up the realization of the established target by the government.
Also, it will help serve as a veritable platform to galvanize the needed input that reflect the thinking of the telecom and ICT sector; and create an opportunity to review the relevance of the Nigerian policy environment vis-a-vis the telecom operating environment.
Key stakeholders expected at the virtual forum include Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, who is expected to deliver the Principal Keynote Address on ‘Enhancing the contributions of sub-sector in the Nigerian national broadband plans through enabling policies’.
Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, EVC/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Engr Aliyu Aziz Abubakar, Director-General/CEO, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) would share their respective commission’s and agency’s perspective via a paper presentation on ‘Aggregating the potentials of the sub-sector to meet the new broadband set target of 70%’.
Each sub-sector is seen as an integral part of the entire ecosystem of the Nigerian telecom and ICT sector hence, selected representative of various subgroups would be expected to make a presentation on how the new National Nigeria Broadband Plan 2020-2025 is impacting the subsector and list what can be done to make the plan realizes its set target on or before the stated period.
ATCON said some of the sub-sectors/sub-groups that their inputs would be collated which are germane to the implementation of the new Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 are Towers/Base Stations Providers, MNOs, Over The Top (OTT) Players, Value Added Services Providers (VAS), Metro-Fibre Operators, Submarine/Undersea Cable Operators.
The rest are: Internet Services Providers (ISP) – Wholesale Segment, Data Centre Operators, Internet Services Providers (ISP) – Retail Segment, Digital Skills/Capacity Building, FINTECH/e-Commerce Operators, Cloud Computing, Manufacturers’ Representative, Satellite Operators, eGovernment Services Providers and Equipment Dealers.
“We are confident that this special engagement would enable us to carry out the industry mapping with respect to the new Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025. This very important strategic and flagship event would serve as a veritable platform for the key stakeholders in the telecom and ICT sector to brainstorm and proffer solution for the realization of the new set target of 70% of Broadband Penetration more expediently,” ATCON concluded.