NCC may issue fixed broadband licences

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has set the pace of splitting the country into territories for the purpose of issuing licences to operators who will provide fixed broadband services to subscribers.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said this known in Abuja at a news conference he addressed alongside the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, Prof. Tim Unwin.

Juwah said that the country will be divided into territories and the operators will be required to bid for the territories to provide with broadband Internet coverage, while the bid for the project is billed to be held before the end of the year or early in 2014

DigitalSENSE Business news noted that digital mobile services have taken precedence in the country since 2001 while fixed telecommunication lies fallow.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC said the government cannot continue to wait for operators to handle the project alone; hence government and private partnership have been introduced into it.

“You can only do mobile broadband up to a point without having fixed broadband. We have come to that point in Nigeria today. You need to backhaul your data. The problem we have in Nigeria is that we have a preponderance of microwave backhaul in our system and this has created a huge percentage of quality of service issues,” he said.