The Nigerian Communications Company (NCC) has given its consent to MaineOne and IHS communications to be the Infrastructural companies (InfraCos) responsible for Nigeria’s improvement broadband provisioning, according to a report by Guardian.
The successful bidders (IHS & MainOne) will provide infrastructure for the North and Lagos Central zones respectively.
“With the achievement of 8% broadband penetration in 2014, but 30% targeted for the year 2018, InfraCos are expected to fast track Nigeria’s broadband penetration,” noted Dr. Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC.
Furthermore, the Minister of Communications Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson, while talking about the broadband development, opined that, “The country is committed to achieving 30 percent penetration by 2018; ensuring 3G/LTE Wireless broadband coverage to 80 per cent of the population by 2018 and also ensuring that the minimum download speeds of 1.5Mbps is achieved in the country.” The minister further hinted that, “The licensed InfraCos are expected to drive and deepen penetration as fast as possible, while the 2.6GHz spectrum auction would also boost the process.”
IHS is a provider of global market, industry and technical expertise while MainOne specializes in providing innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa.
