Broadband: Nigeria has tremendous opportunities for growth-EVC

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah has disclosed that the country still has tremendous opportunities for growth in internet deployment.

Juwah, who was speaking shortly after after a nail-biting election in Bussan, South Korea recently, noted that there had been so much development in the country’s Communications sector, which she was ready to export and share with the international community.
“The Nigerian Telecommunications industry has grown in leaps and bounds over the last decade. The growth rate continues to be impressive. Our industry statistics shows the Country’s Active voice Subscriber Base of about 132 million as at today;  Tele-density of 92.41 percent; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of over $32 Billion and Telecoms contributes 9 percent to Nigeria’s GDP. Nigeria still has tremendous opportunities for growth, especially in the area of broadband deployment.
“As a Country, we have valuable experiences to share. We have also been recognized in various fora globally for the achievements we have made in regulating and developing our telecommunications sector. We continue to enunciate programmes and regulatory frameworks, as well as adapt global best practices in the regulation of our telecommunications industry. We carry out our regulatory role based on the principles of fairness, forthrightness and firmness. This has been demonstrated over the years in all the initiatives and programs we have implemented”.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s efforts to remain in the ITU Council were also rewarded as the Nigerian campaign was spear-headed by the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, and supported by  Juwah.
Johnson urged the Nigerian delegates to work harder in the campaigns next time in order to make the outcome less anxious and stressful. The Minister was referring to the thick anxiety that enveloped the Nigerian delegation when the name wasn’t called at the expected time.
The ITU Council is the highest decision making body and acts as the union’s governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences while one of the Board’s main functions is to approve rules of procedures to facilitate application of the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geo-stationary-satellite and non-geostationary satellites orbits.
The 48 membership Council seats are distributed thus: The Americas (9 seats); Western Europe (8 seats); Eastern Europe and Northern Asia (5 seats); Africa (13 seats); and East Asia and Australia (13). Although the seats are fairly distributed across the regions, a whole lot of international politicking and diplomatic maneuvering usually come into play and this saw countries like South Africa and Iran voted out of the Council.
The Nigerian Communications Commission formed the arrow-head of the country’s return to the ITU Council.
From the outcome of the elections the appeal hit a positive note as Nigeria was retained in the Council, while some other high profile countries lost out.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.