Contrary to public thinking, the Nigerian Communications Commission on Friday said that fixed telephone line service in the country was not dead but now running on a wireless technology.
The Director, Public Affairs of the NCC, Tony Ojobo, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that the world had moved to the era of broadband.
Ojobo said that there were fixed wire lines and fixed wireless, adding that one was run on wire line technology and the other on wireless technology.
Ojobo said that it was the lifestyle of the day that determined the kind of service people demanded for, adding that the type of lines used by NITEL were no longer in vogue, due to the market system.
He said: “It is not that fixed line is dead.
“It is the present day lifestyle which is the digital lifestyle and the market that determine the service.
“So there are actually fixed lines but people probably are looking at the fixed lines the way it was before.
“That is no longer the way it is provided now.
“Fixed lines now are provided on a broadband platform.
“We are no longer in the age where you have to run cable to provide fixed lines.”
He said that the challenge of fixed lines was a legacy problem because the first national carrier, NITEL, did not provide appropriate infrastructure for other service providers to use.
“Most countries where the telecommunication market was opened up, the pioneers actually played roles to sustain it.”
Ojobo said that the infrastructure made available by the pioneers in those countries were what were in use today and that people did not need to dig the ground to lay cables.
He said that in the case of Nigeria, NITEL, as the pioneer, had a peculiar challenge at the time when other service providers were licensed.
Ojobo said the challenge of fixed land lines could have been over if NITEL was vibrant at that time, noting that it would not be easy for every network to lay its own cables.
He said: “The world is mobile and there is greater percentage of people on the move than people in one location.
“Therefore, it is the market that determines the service.”
Ojobo noted that it was not because the service providers did not want to operate fixed lines, saying: “The challenges are choice, competition and market.”
He observed that MTN, Multi-links, Visafone and Starcomms provide fixed lines through modems.
Ojobo said that if a network only provided fixed lines that network might not be able to compete effectively in the market of the digital mobile world.
On broadband, he said that there had been a challenge in broadband implementation, which government was addressing.
He said there were three areas of challenge that were significant in the delay of the implementation of broadband, namely the issue of right of way, vandalism and multiple taxation.
Ojobo explained right of way as the approval required from government to dig by the road, adding that infrastructure was also the cause of delay in the roll out of the broadband.
He said that recently, an MoU was signed between the ministries of communication technology and works to get right of way to dig and lay fibres.
Ojobo said that before now it usually took 18 months to get right of way but that due to the Inter-ministerial Committee on ICT and Works, that problem had been reduced to 30 days.
He said that government had set up committee involving the ministry, NCC, stakeholders and governors to look at the issues to create one-stop shop on tax for telecom infrastructure.
Ojobo added that the committee would also ensure that it became less burdensome for service providers to roll out infrastructure in states.
He said that the committee was set up after the minister of communication technology’s presentation to the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council.
Ojobo said that it was from the presentation that it was shown how telecommunications could bring development to states and create jobs.
“I think the committee has put together reports, which the government is looking at, and soon that matter will be a thing of the past.” he said.
NAN.
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