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NCC decries landing of submarine cable in Lagos

By on June 21, 2013

Mr Eugene Juwah, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has decried the landing of all submarine cable in Lagos.

Speaking at the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Stakeholders Forum on Thursday in Lagos, Juwah said that there was the need to situate the cable in other states of the country.

The ICT Stakeholders Forum, with the theme: “Connected For Growth-Moving from Planning to Execution’’ was organised by the Ministry of Communication Technology.

He said that extending the landing points of the submarine cable to other states would ensure the desired level of broadband penetration needed in the country.

According to him, there should be a developed strategies based on the peculiarities of the different geographical areas to enable the deployment of broadband infrastructure.

“There is the need to have a coordinated strategy toward the provision of a broadband infrastructure ecosystem in the country,” he said.

Juwah said that over 30,000km long of intercity fibre had been laid already to boost broadband penetration.

He however said that a high volume of the 30,000km capacity was under utilised due to the concentration of the fibre in one place.

According to him, one of the rationale for a national broadband strategy is to expand access to more localities.

Juwah said that the commission was working to engender competition and innovation among service providers by ensuring an open non-discriminatory access to broadband infrastructure for the operators.

Dr Ernest Ndukwe, Co-Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Broadband said that broadband was to the 21st Century Information Age what electricity was to the industrial age.

He said that broadband had a significant transformative effect on how people live and work.

According to him, it is considered critical that cable companies all have demonstrable recovery and restoration agreement with each other.

He said that it was critical that cable systems were extended to other coastal regions or states.

“The Federal Government shall therefore promote the rapid establishment of recovery agreements and the delivery of additional cable landing points to other coastal states,’’ he said.

He listed the states to include Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Ondo states.

 

 

(NAN)