LAGOS: The Honorable Minister of Communications, Omobola Johnson stated that the Federal Government has resolved to completely eliminate the drawbacks hindering operators in Nigeria's telecommunication market. This bottleneck prevents Telecom companies from deploying broadband infrastructure, she said, at the opening of 2012 eWorld Magazine Broadband Forum in Lagos. The Minister said that the Federal Government intends to meet its target of doubling broadband penetration by 2015 thus enabling more Nigerians have access to reasonably priced and efficient broadband Internet services. She told stakeholders at the forum that the Ministry had stepped up consultations with Ministry of Works to address right-of-way issues preventing service providers from deploying fibre optic infrastructure. According to Johnson, 49 million Nigerians out of the country's population of 167 million people have access to the Internet, with only 6 percent broadband penetration. The responsibility lies with government to provide a workable regulatory and business environment for foreign and local investors as this can aid economic development in the country, she said. According to Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the commission's broadband plan is aimed at bridging the gap between available premium mobile type services, and the traditional affordable fixed line telephony. “Unlike most other parts of the world where fixed line services are common place, Nigeria never had abundance of fixed line services the way it has seen mobile telephony,” he stated. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/H8lIj Tags: Broadband, Forum, Nigeria Section: Nigeria, Tech
