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• Insecurity widens digital divide between North and South
• Nigeria ranks 88th in quality of digital life
• Operators claim that state activities threaten universal rural coverage
• MIIT is keen to deploy 90,000 km of optical fiber to increase access
• 57% of Internet users are still using 2G
The federal government may have given up on its ambitious broadband targets even as stagnant private investment, overzealous revenue mobilisation campaigns by states, failed infrastructure projects (InfraCo) and an unfavourable business environment have led to a continued surge in the number of digitally excluded people, which at the latest statistics stood at 136 million.
Data from Nigeria’s telecommunications industry shows that the digital divide between the north and south of the country is widening.
About 44.6% of Nigerians, mainly in the northern region, have no basic telephone service or have limited access to it.
Data shows that Nigeria’s total population is about 220 million, but only 38% of them have access to the Internet, which means that about 136 million people still cannot enjoy digital services.
While the country’s teledensity was estimated at 101.2% as of the first quarter, surveys conducted by some operators showed that 61% of the population in rural areas, mainly in the north, did not have access to a telephone.
Last year, Nigeria scored 0.38 points on the Digital Quality of Life Index out of 117 countries surveyed by Statista in partnership with Surfshark, ranking 88th.
The score has risen by 0.34 points this year compared to last year. The index measures the quality of digital well-being in the country across five pillars – internet affordability, internet quality, e-infrastructure, e-security and e-government.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) rated Nigeria at 71% in terms of comparative legal, policy and governance frameworks with the G5.
In fact, data from the National Bureau of Statistics further confirms the connectivity gap.
Data shows that the number of telephone users in the southern region is 113.8 million, while the number in the northern region is 104.5 million. This gap is likely to widen further due to the slow implementation of Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan (2020-2025).
The findings revealed that several telecommunication infrastructure, especially base transceiver stations that were bombed by Boko Haram terrorists in the northern states a few years ago, have not been restored yet. This has also affected the telecommunication penetration rate in the region.
The recent looting of the newly built digital campus of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Kano by thugs following the #EndBadGovernance protests also showed that the digital divide crisis has gotten even worse.
These factors threaten the goal of achieving 70% broadband penetration next year. The previous target was also missed and the target was postponed to next year. With a few months to go, Nigeria is currently 27% away from the 70% target.
It is important to highlight that Nigeria was supposed to reach the 50% target last year but failed to do so due to zero funding and several issues including the failure of InfraCo.
Sadly, the InfraCo project, which was designed to help 774 local government areas (LGAs) roll out wholesale broadband facilities and then distribute them to the hinterland, has failed to materialize.
However, the federal government has taken another initiative under the current system through the LG Connectivity Project 774 to expand the coverage of fiber optic cables; painfully, countries are currently considering shutting down networks such as 2G and 3G to expand connectivity through 4G and 5G.
NCC statistics show that the 2G penetration rate is 56.97% with limited coverage, which means that more people are still using the network, especially in rural areas; therefore many people are unable to carry out much digital activities.
According to the telecom regulator, 3G penetration is 9.04%, 4G penetration is 32.74%, and is still mainly limited to major urban areas. Nearly two years after the launch of 5G, penetration is only 1.24%. Industry analysts say a lack of investment has hampered network deployment in new sites and locations.
Despite the NNBP’s stated need to cover 80% of the country’s 114 unserved clusters by the end of last year, this target has also not been achieved as the metropolitan fibre network currently accounts for less than 25% of the country’s total fibre distance, concentrated in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, while other areas remain unserved or underserved.
Currently, the average fiber optic network coverage within a five-kilometer radius is about 39%, with Lagos having the highest coverage at 85% and Jigawa State having the lowest coverage at 12%.
According to the NNBP, Nigeria is expected to connect 70% of its tertiary institutions, 30% of its secondary schools and 15% of its primary schools with fibre by 2023, an ambitious target that has yet to be achieved.
By the same period, 80 per cent of general hospitals and federal health centres in local government areas were to be connected. This too has not happened.
The Guardian’s checks revealed that some of the general hospitals involved were made possible through private efforts.
In addition, as part of its advocacy campaign, the GSMA, which represents the interests of global mobile operators and suppliers, has repeatedly called for lower smartphone costs, saying this would enable more people to get online.
Therefore, part of the broadband plan is to ensure that the country has at least one smartphone assembly plant by 2023. This is to ensure that the price of entry-level smartphones in the country can be as low as 18,000 naira.
However, the country currently has no local smartphone assembly plants and prices for entry-level devices currently exceed 30,000 naira.
In order to get rid of its dependence on foreign mobile phone brands, India has tried to increase its domestic mobile phone production, but ultimately failed.
In 2017, AfriOne announced the opening of a smartphone factory in Nigeria with an initial investment of $10 million. The company claims to be able to produce 120,000 to 300,000 phones per month. According to the company, its smartphones are priced between $92 and $108.
A few years later, AfriOne has been frustrated, mainly due to challenges such as insufficient power supply and preference for foreign brands.
An anonymous NNBP committee member told The Guardian that the biggest obstacles to implementing the first phase of the NNBP from 2013 to 2018 were lack of political will and insufficient funding.
With less than 17 months until the current plan expires, the member estimated its implementation level to be around 40%, stressing that many timelines have either been missed or may not be achieved due to insufficient funding and a lack of clarity on an implementable roadmap.
However, Muhammed Rudman, another member of the NNBP committee, believes that the plan is still valid and ongoing, stressing that a lot can happen between now and 2025.
Radman, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), said some of the milestones related to the IXPN have already been achieved.
In addition to creating routing redundancy for all IXPs in the country by the third quarter of 2022, which, according to him, has not yet been completed due to the high cost of transmission links.
“All the operators’ points of presence (PoPs) are interconnected. We now have an IXPN in Gombe in northeastern Nigeria. We have already localized some of the Internet traffic, as some ISPs exchange up to 80% of their traffic,” Radman said.
In terms of data pricing, the plan foresees 1GB to cost 700 naira by 2023, but currently some operators are offering daily packages for as low as 350 naira, which is an achievement of the roadmap.
Nevertheless, the country’s access gap dominated discussions at the Policy Implementation Assistance Forum (PIAFo), a telecoms industry event organized by BusinessMetrics.
Chidi Ibisi, Executive Director of Broadbased Communications, lamented that many timelines have not been met since the first broadband plan, stressing that this challenge has created a huge digital divide.
Ibisi said that with the implementation of the Infraco scheme and the introduction of incentive agreements/financing packages since 2013, the cost of ROW should have been harmonized across all states; and by 2014, Nigeria should have metro fiber in all major cities and state capitals; and incentives for last mile fiber infrastructure to homes, estates and commercial buildings.
He said although many gaps still exist, Nigeria is racing to connect 95% of local government areas with fibre, including tertiary institutions (100%), secondary schools (50%), primary schools (25%), primary health care centres in every local government area (80%), polyclinics and federal medical centres in every local government area (100%) and tower stations (60%).
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