The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC has disclosed that about 40 million Nigerians live in places where there are no network services.
The Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said this in a public lecture entitled ‘The national broadband plan as a catalyst for social and economic transformation: The NCC mandate’ organised by the Nigerian Academy of Engineering in Abuja.
According to Danbatta, the 40 million Nigerians reside in 207 communities across the country where gaps in telecommunications services have been identified.
The NCC boss also attributed poor quality of service in the country to neglect of fixed telecommunications services, which had put tremendous pressure on mobile wireless services.
Danbatta said to reduce pressure on the existing lower microwave frequency bands and increase broadband access across the country, the NCC planned to license the 38 GHz and 42 GHz bands, adding that both bands were suitable for short hop and point-to-point terrestrial links.
Meanwhile, Dantata said in the second quarter of 2016, telecommunications contributed N1.58tn to the socio-economic development of the country, accounting for 9.8 per cent of the nation’s rebased Gross Domestic Product.
