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Nigeria and the failed UN broadband penetration target 09 Oct 2015

Last month, ITU, the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies,  and UNESCO, the "intellectual" agency of the UN that forges global peace and sustainable development, lamented the failure to reach the global broadband penetration target of 60 per cent by 2015. In a new report, the UN bodies stated that global broadband uptake will reach 3.2 billion in 2015, approximately only 43.4% of global population.
    
What strikes us as interesting is the responsibility the ITU takes for missing the target as if it were directly responsible for implementing the actual deployment of broadband networks. Some key highlights of the report identified that broadband penetration in more developed countries is nearing saturation at over 82 per cent. We, however, do not agree that this figure is near saturation at all. According to the report, the broadband penetration statistics for developing countries and least developed countries are 36 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. These figures are below the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development's targets of 50 per cent for developing countries and 15 per cent for LDCs by 2015.

Nigeria as a least developed country

Judging by these figures, Nigeria is a least developed country. Despite having a National Broadband Plan, one of the ITU targets, significant headway is yet to be made to achieve the 30 per cent broadband penetration target set for 2018 in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2013 – 2018. In fact, ITU and UNESCO also admitted to the likelihood of not meeting the same targets in 2020.

As consultants to the Presidential Committee on Broadband, we conferred with all the brilliant minds on the Committee over the realistic nature of the 30 per cent broadband penetration target set by then-President Goodluck Jonathan. It was agreed that the targets were ambitious but achievable as long as the key players put their feet on the gas pedal in a corporate and collective effort. Since then, broadband penetration has moved a tiny two percent to eight per cent. Should the National Broadband Council, which ran the Project Management Office, take responsibility for this growth outlook? Or should it be the responsibility of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the ITU or the various Nigerian state governments?  

Secretary-General of the ITU, Houlin Zhao, said that the market in wealthier nations had done its work in rolling out broadband networks because there were strong business cases to support the deployment of such networks. He identified that connecting the remaining four billion people on the planet was still a very significant challenge. Some have argued that the business case for Africa does not support investment in this sector. However, we wish to state for the record that in its first advent, Nigeria did not support the business case for mobile telephony, or so it was thought. It was reported that the average Nigerian lived on less than one dollar per day. Today, the average Nigerian has a phone. In fact, Nigeria has the highest number of active Facebook users in Africa, and most access the social networking site on their phones.

Build it and they will come

The success story of MTN, in building a formidable pan-African mobile network is in the annals of telecoms history. Nevertheless, the old adage of build it and they will come no longer applies, so they say. A new wisdom has been asserted, which says, “Find out what they want, then build it, and they will come.” Late, but better than never, Nigerians now want affordable broadband; but it appears the country is not clear yet on how to deploy broadband for its citizens and what this broadband would be used for.

Still top 20 economy by 2020?

Does Nigeria still want to be one of the top 20 economies by 2020? Do the Federal Government, the States and operators realise their pivotal roles and responsibilities in making ICT services widely available for the creation of employment and generation of wealth? There has been a change of government, but it remains an imperative that the new administration continues with the National Broadband Agenda.

It was identified that implementing the broadband plan would require states to sign up to the National Broadband Agenda. This gave birth to the Smart State Initiative, pioneered by Lagos State, Cross Rivers State, and FCT Abuja. This strategy followed the premise that States which significantly reduce or remove the barrier to the deployment of ICT infrastructure within their borders are the biggest winners in the growth boom that every percentage increase in ICT penetration brings about. In a new era that requires a major diversification in the sources for internally generated and alternative revenues, the benefits and return that the availability of broadband offers cannot be ignored. But are we still interested?