TheNewsGuru

Tag: ATCON

  • $2bn Project Bridge excites telcos

    $2bn Project Bridge excites telcos

    The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) on Monday commended the Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy for spearheading a new initiative known as “Project Bridge.”

    ATCON President, Mr Tony Emoekpere, noting in an interview in Lagos State that the initiative is aimed at creating a robust and resilient telecommunications backbone across Nigeria, said the project was an ambitious Public-Private Partnership (PPP) designed to connect all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as local government areas via fiber optic cables.

    According to him, the initiative is not meant to replace existing infrastructure but to complement it, creating a more resilient network, saying, “Right now, most of the networks that we have are linear in nature.

    “Just imagine, if there’s only one road from Lagos to Ibadan; if anything happens to that road, you would not get to Ibadan. This project will create alternative routes”.

    Speaking in the interview with NAN, the ATCON boss said the project was being modelled after the successful energy sector’s PPP framework, with the government contributing a certain percentage to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and the private sector providing the rest of the funding.

    He said that the goal of the project was to create alternative, redundant connections, thereby ensuring that services remain uninterrupted even if one part of the network was compromised.

    The president expressed the full support of telcos, noting that the project would enable members to deliver services more effectively in locations where infrastructure was currently a significant challenge.

    “With this project, we will have multiple options,” he said.

    “Project BRIDGE” involves building a nationwide fiber optic network to expand digital infrastructure and connectivity, rather than a physical bridge, as part of Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan.

    The project is a public-private partnership ($2 billion cost) using a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to deploy 90,000 km of fiber-optic cable to enhance education, healthcare, and the digital economy.

  • Call for voice, data tariffs increase is serious – ATCON insists

    Call for voice, data tariffs increase is serious – ATCON insists

    The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has reiterated its plea to the telecommunications industry regulators to consider increasing call tariffs.

    The President, ATCON, Mr Tony Emoekpere, made the plea in an interview in Lagos on New Year’s Day.

    ATCON is a professional, non-profit, non-political umbrella organisation of telecommunications companies in Nigeria.

    Emoekpere said that the minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) should take the call for tariff increase seriously, because the sector was a value chain business.

    He urged that the decision to increase tariffs should be at least in the first quarter of 2025, adding that there should be some clarification as regards to what the plan on tariff should be.

    The ATCON boss stressed that there was no official communique by the Nigeria Communications Commission on increase in tariffs, but noted that at some point a plan to harmonise tariffs had been mentioned.

    Emoekpere said that tariffs, being the way they were was a big challenge to the industry.

    He explained that tariffs were supposed to enable operators and everybody in the industry to generate enough revenue to sustain their business operations.

    “Like I have said before, revenue being generated is not enough to support the ongoing operations of most of the telcos and the infrastructure providers as well.

    “So, the earlier a firm decision is made on this issue, the better for the industry.

    “Nigeria does not have a stagnant population; the population is growing every day. More and more people are coming to the bracket where they need operators’ services,’’ he said.

    The ATCON boss added that, as population increased, there would be increasing demand for products, and businesses would also increase their demand and investments.

    He said that, however, if businesses could not charge a reasonable amount to enable them put the lights on, talk less of even making a profit, it would affect them negatively.

    “So, we call upon the Ministry of Communication and the regulators to look into this matter and take a firm decision, at least by the first quarter of 2025,’’ he said.

    Emoekpere stressed that the issue may look mundane, but if it was not managed properly, it would have an adverse effect.

    “Already, people are complaining about quality of service and things like that.

    “The big challenge is that as things stand, due to the current revenue depreciation so to speak especially on dollar terms, there is no way it is not going to have an adverse effect on quality of service.

    “It will also have an adverse effect on service and status of the infrastructure, because there will be no incentive to invest,” the ATCON boss explained.

    According to him, 2025 is going to be a big challenge because the current climate in the industry is not encouraging any form of investment in terms of expansion.

    Emoekpere wondered how operators were expected to make more investments, if they could not generate enough revenue to sustain their current operations.

  • Telecom firms open up on barriers to broadband internet expansion in Nigeria

    Telecom firms open up on barriers to broadband internet expansion in Nigeria

    The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has called on the Federal Government (FG) to address the infrastructural deficit, economic constraints and systemic challenges of broadband internet expansion.

    The association’s president, Mr Tony Emoekpere, made the call on Tuesday while speaking on ways to address the barriers and gaps in broadband connectivity.

    The Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 agenda on broadband internet includes increasing access to high-speed internet for the population. This is expected to cover an increase in speed with a minimum of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas.

    With the goals’ deadline fast approaching, and Nigerians’ continued experience of poor and weak internet becoming a norm, Emoekpere identified some lapses and ways of setting things in order.

    According to him, urban regions like Lagos are enjoying faster and more reliable connectivity compared to underserved rural areas, where infrastructure gaps persist.

    “The barriers to broadband internet expansion in Nigeria reflect a combination of infrastructure deficits, economic constraints, and systemic challenges.

    “Addressing these is critical for achieving equitable digital inclusion and supporting the country’s economic growth,” Emoekpere said.

    The ATCON president affirms the gap in the deployment of broadband infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

    “The limited penetration of fibre-optic networks and inadequate last-mile connections prevent equitable access to high-speed internet.

    “These gaps exacerbate the digital divide, leaving millions without meaningful connectivity. The affordability of internet access remains a critical issue.

    “Broadband services and devices are still too expensive for many Nigerians, especially those in lower-income brackets.

    “Moreover, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have faced stagnant tariffs for years despite increasing operational expenses and capital expenditure (CapEx) due to challenges such as rising energy costs and a depreciating naira,” he said.

    To improve the quality of internet connectivity, therefore, Emoekpere called for tariff adjustments and economic incentives for MNOs due to rising operational and capital costs.

    “MNOs should be permitted to implement controlled tariff increases to account for rising operational and capital costs.

    “In parallel, the government can provide tax breaks or subsidies to ease consumer affordability while ensuring operators can sustain their infrastructure investments,” the ATCON president said.

    On the frequent internet service disruptions, Emoekpere says connectivity reliability has been compromised by vandalism, fibre cuts during construction activities, and Nigeria’s inconsistent power supply.

    “Such disruptions not only affect service delivery but also lead to higher operational costs for telecom providers,” he said.

    The expert said there should be harmonised policies across state governments for consistency.

  • Undersea cable cut: How to reduce effect of Internet disruptions in Nigeria – ATCON

    Undersea cable cut: How to reduce effect of Internet disruptions in Nigeria – ATCON

    The Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) says there is need to locally domicile content and put more investment in localised data centres to reduce the effect of disruptions in connectivity.

    The President of ATCON, Mr Tony Emoekpere, said this in Lagos, stressing that it was important to domicile content locally as this would make for prompt fixing of outages and disruptions.

    The ATCON president was reacting against the backdrop of the internet disruption that occurred on Thursday which had major effect on banks and Telcos in Nigeria and South Africa.

    Emoekpere revealed that most domiciled content in the country were not affected by the disruption.

    “Nothing can be done exactly to reduce damage of submarine cables, but most importantly, there is need to domicile more of our content locally.

    “Most domiciled content were not affected because such content were hosted on Data centres localised in the country.

    “There is need for investment in more data centres in the country to reduce the effect of internet disruption,’’ he told NAN.

    According to him, Nigeria and South Africa were the least affected because of more submarine cables coming into the country.

    Meanwhile in a statement released by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, confirmed the cut.

    NCC said a combination of cable cuts, resulting in equipment faults on the major undersea cables along the West African Coast had negatively impacted data and fixed telecom services in several countries of West Africa.

    “Which includes Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire,” according to a statement signed by NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, NCC Mr Reuben Muoka.

    “The cuts occurred somewhere in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, with an attendant disruption in Portugal.”

    “Cable companies – West African Cable System (WACS) and African Coast to Europe (ACE) in the West Coast route from Europe – have experienced faults, while SAT3 and MainOne have downtime, according to NCC.

    “Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway (EIG), Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE1), are said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in degradation of services across these routes,’’ he said

    According to him, Nigeria and other West African countries, Internet access and speed have experienced disruptions in the networks of service providers in the affected countries.

    He said that operators of these cables have commenced repairs already, and services are gradually being restored.

    “They have promised to work round the clock to ensure that services are restored to the affected countries within the shortest possible time.”

    Also speaking to NAN, Senior Manager, External Relations, Mr Funsho Aina, said that a service had been restored.

    Telcos and banks had on Thursday experienced major internet disruption in the country.

  • FG keen on developing Nigeria into digital economy, says Minister

    FG keen on developing Nigeria into digital economy, says Minister

    Dr Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has said the Federal Government is keen on developing Nigeria into a digital economy.

    Pantami stated this on Thursday in Abuja at the National Dialogue on telecoms and ICT sector in Nigeria organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) with the theme “Harnessing the digital resources for the building of our national economy”.

    The Minister, in his keynote address, acknowledged the challenges of developing a digital economy in Nigeria.

    “In Nigeria, we are keen to develop a digital economy that will have a great impact on every sector of Nigeria’s economy,” he said.

    He enumerated some challenges of developing a digital economy in the country to include; rapid evolution of technology and widening inequalities between the digital “haves” and “haves-not” and the need for new regulations.

    Pantami named others to include cybercrime and other threats; low level of digital literacy; and need for infrastructure.

    Speaking further he said that a number of opportunities were abound in the economy, once it was placed on the right track.

    Pantami said they included economic growth and productivity, increased transparency, growth of digital innovation and entrepreneurship, digitisation of work, and useful insights from big data.

    In addition he said, digital economy can contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) more than ICT which contributed 17 per cent in 2019.

    “According to the Q2 ‘2020 GDP Report by the National Bureau of Statistics, ICT contributed an unprecedented 17.83 per cent to the GDP.

    “The effect of the digital economy is even far greater than the ICT contribution shows.

    “The digital economy encompasses ICT and all digital services, which includes all online activities in financial institutions, ecommerce, online tax payment, any form of online payment, online banking, etc.

    “When we consider these, the contribution of the digital economy could be up to 45 per cent or even more.

    “The telecom and ICT sector stand to gain a lot from the development of our digital economy and the public and private sectors need to partner to maximise the impact,” he said.

    Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in his paper pledged the commission’s commitment towards driving the nation’s digital economic policy.

    “The NCC remains committed to driving the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025 for advancing the digital economy vision of the federal government.

    “As you are aware, our role is to drive major digital initiatives and policies of the government, hence, we have continued to work with government as a critical stakeholder,” he said.

    He reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to fulfill its part of the agreement with the infracos, which was a major aspect in achieving the national broadband plan of 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.

    “We are committed to the execution of the counterpart funding agreements with the Licensed InfraCo to facilitate increase in fibre deployment in the country.

    “To ensure, at least one Point of Access (PoA) in each of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria enhance digital transformation.

    “The commission has, so far, awarded the sum of N336.4 million as research grants to the academia and has endowed professorial chairs in two Nigerian universities.

    “The NCC has also remitted N362.34 billion from 2015 till date to the Federal Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), through spectrum fees and operating surplus,” he said.

  • Nigeria @60: Obasanjo gets encomium for bringing GSM to Nigeria

    Nigeria @60: Obasanjo gets encomium for bringing GSM to Nigeria

    Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, President National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has commended the growth of the telecommunication sector in Nigeria.

    Highlighting the benefits and challenges in the Nigerian telecoms sector, Ogunbanjo poured encomium on former President Olusegun Obasanjo for bringing the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) to the country in his time.

    He recalled the mobile network journey from 2001, stressing that the Obasanjo’s administration did well to ensure that the country went through the telecommunication process.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Ogunbanjo made the commendation as key players in the telecommunication industry say Nigeria can attain greater height in digital penetration if it can increase its broadband.

    The key players in different interviews on Wednesday in Lagos, were x-raying the achievements of the country in the last 60 years of her independence.

    The NATCOMS president, however, said that there was room for improvement, advancement and sustainability in the operation of the telecommunication sector to meet up with the global practice.

    “The phone is now a companion; it is also for making money; it is what gives the daily meal to many, the OBJ administration did well to ensure that we went through the telecommunication process.

    “However, there is need to now start deploying more base stations and broadband to expand concentration of the technology, especially to the rural areas,’’ he told NAN in the interview.

    He suggested that the government should formulate a policy to dedicate a certain percentage of base stations and radio equipment for broadband penetration or internet usage, especially in rural communities or underserved areas.

    “Internet service should be extended to the underserved areas of Nigeria to encourage commercial engagement and business growth.’’

    Ogunbanjo said that there was a need to educate and allow rural dwellers to engage fully in the telecommunication sector, as the internet is famous for the ability to spread information.

    He noted that since the primary use of the internet is communication, it would aid the frequency and quality of interpersonal communication among people.

    The telecom expert also reflected on innovative ideas taking place in the telecommunications sector as part of the nine-point agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    He said that the presidency started well by creating awareness and renaming the Communications Ministry as the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

    “The president has shown the importance of the technology sector, which is quite commendable.

    “It means that that sector’s effect is obviously showcasing and touching on all the sectors positively.

    Ogunbanjo also commended the efforts of Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta for pledging to promote and facilitate the expansion of robust broadband and information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure across the country.

    Another key player in the sector, Mr Olusola Teniola, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) suggested that the government could improve on the technology sector to help drive all the nine-point agenda.

    Teniola told NAN that this is possible through the introduction of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) based curricula into our education system.

    He said that such an idea should form the basis of producing a workforce of the future that will create the technology needed to prepare the youth for the fourth Industrial Revolution.

    He suggested that there should be collaboration among the Ministries of Science and Technology, Communications and Digital Economy and other government agencies like the National University Commission to provide a platform to build, promote and commercialise innovation into economic value.

    He rated Nigeria as a consumer of technology, rather than being a producer of technology.

    “There are vast opportunities for Nigeria to add value to the technology supply chain and create value-added solutions.

    “Gradually we can move up the chain by developing technology start-ups in an incubation process,’’ Teniola said.

    The ATCON president called on the federal government to do more by promotes innovations and taps into the talent base in the nation’s youth demography.

    “Running hackathons is a good starting point, like MTN.

    “However, more sustainable programmes that identify talents from a younger age and provide scholarships where necessary and support are needed to fuel the engine of innovation.’’

    He said that there was an opportunity to create the Nigerian version of online virtual meeting applications and not having to rely on applications that are not built for our local realities.

  • NCC Boss, Danbatta bags ATCON award

    NCC Boss, Danbatta bags ATCON award

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has received a distinguished award from the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

    The Award was presented to the EVC in his office in Abuja on Wednesday by ATCON President, Olusola Teniola in company of the association’s Executive Secretary, Ajibola Olude.

    Presenting the award, Teniola said it was in appreciation of the laudable contribution of the EVC of NCC towards the successful hosting of ATCON’s virtual national dialogue held for the industry on August 6, 2020.

    According to Teniola, ATCON is recognising and appreciating the EVC “for being a panel discussant on ‘Meeting the Interests of the Government, Consumers, Telecoms and ICT Companies in the Era of COVID-19 and Post COVID-19 Pandemic Cum Digital Era’ dated August 2020.”

    Responding, the EVC appreciated ATCON for the gesture and for the critical role the association is playing in the overall development of the telecoms and ICT industry as a whole.

  • NCC gets applause for revolutionary management plan

    The National Executive Council of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as it unveiled its plan for 2020 to 2025.

    Mr Olusola Teniola, President of the Association expressed the association’s delight in a statement in Lagos on Wednesday.

    The Commission, in line with the objective of creating a seamless strategy to augment its effective management and regulation of the telecommunications sector, unveiled a five-year 2020 and 2025 Strategic Management Plan (SMP).

    According to him, the SMP will leverage the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) as well as the new National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2020 and 2025 road maps.

    The plan covered the guiding principles and acts as the operational manual for the commission toward actualising the digital economy agenda of the Federal Government in the next five years.

    The plan was unveiled in Abuja on June 23.

    “I am particularly happy that NCC under its supervising Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy which is ably headed by Dr Isa Ali Pantami, has called the entire important stakeholders in the Nigerian ICT and telecoms sector to unveil a plan that will last between 2020 and 2025.

    “There is an adage which says that failure to plan is equivalent to plan to fail.

    “With this planning which is expected to take its root from NDEPS and the new NBP Plan 2020-2025 is expected to be more successful than the previous ones.

    ”ATCON will collaborate with the Minster of Communications and Digital Economy, NCC, NITDA, NigCoMSAT, Galaxy Backbone, USPF and DBI to work the plan out with all other stakeholders, especially our members through initiation of programmes to realise its set goals for the industry,” Teniola said.

    He, however, noted that the plan took into consideration the post-coronavirus pandemic in relation to regulations of the Nigerian telecom sector viz-a-viz the expectations of players in the industry.

    He congratulated Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC and the management of NCC.

    “ATCON pledges to work with NCC to realise the listed deliverables of the plan for Nigeria and the generality of the people of our great country,” Teniola said.

  • COVID-19: NITDA academy admits 14,000 learners

    The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has admitted over 14,000 active students into its virtual academy to study 47 courses on emerging technologies.

    The Director-General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed this on Thursday in an online meeting organised by the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

    The meeting focused on the Socio-Economic and Political Impact of COVID-19 on Telecom and ICT sector in Nigeria.

    Recall that the NITDA Virtual Academy was launched in May by Dr Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

    The platform was targeted at helping to engage young citizens to spend their time meaningfully and learn new technologies that will help create and shape the post-COVID era.

    Inuwa said inspite the effect of COVID-19 in all sectors, there was hope because the crisis had forced people to change behaviour and adapt to new habits.

    “Coronavirus has forced us to change our behaviour and adapt to new habits.

    “New trends have emerged, we do everything remotely, working, learning, meeting, workshops, zoom party, e-wedding and so on,” he said.

    He also said that NITDA had successfully organised various programmes during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Innovation Challenge.

    According to him, the innovation challenge is designed to help with ideas that can contain and cushion the effect of the virus as well as keep the economy up.

    “We are working with the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 and Nigerian Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) to identify some of the ideas they think are relevant for them.

    “The ideas can be used as a testing ground to help the initiatives by the start-ups develop their ideas into products,” he said.

    He added that the challenge had over 2,000 applicants, while five start-ups were selected to pitch at the Open Demo and Prize Giving Day, and three emerged winners.

    Abdullahi stressed that it was part of the agency’s initiatives to identify youths with innovative ideas, take them to innovation hubs, incubate and accelerate their ideas into products or services.

    He said the agency does that through its Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Scheme.

    He added that they were working with relevant stakeholders to identify hubs as well as start-ups that can enjoy the initiative.

    Commenting on using new technologies in farming, the director-general stated that the Nigerian Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) would encourage farmers to focus more on digital platforms and precision smart farming.

    “To ensure significant improvement in crop yield, quality of farm produce, efficiency and productivity, increased profit margin, we need harvest focus, sales of farm produce and eco-friendly agricultural practice.

    “We are working with 150 farmers to start the pilot project, because the agriculture value chain contribute the highest percentage to our Gross Domestic Product.

    “With ICT as an enabler, we can help boost its projection,” he added.

  • Cheap broadband investment in Nigeria excites telecoms companies

    Cheap broadband investment in Nigeria excites telecoms companies

    The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), on Thursday commended Governors and Houses of Assemby of Imo and Ekiti states for the implementation of the approved Right-of-Way (ROW) price.

    Ajibola Olude, Secretary of the Association, gave the commendation in a statement in Lagos.

    He hailed the orders issued by Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Ekiti Governor and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and Sen. Hope Uzodinma, Governor of Imo.

    The association noted that both states had approved right of way price from a high price to an industry and investment friendly price of N145 per liner meter approved by the Federal Government.

    “ATCON also appreciates these states for considering its letter which was sent to them in the beginning of the year recommending that telecom and ICT infrastructure must be seen and treated as a component of development in their respective states.

    “With this move by the governors, their leaderships have attested to the fact that the socio-economic development of their respective states is not mutually exclusive to broadband and ICT infrastructure development which has been one of the basis of our advocacy initiatives,” he said.

    He, however, stated that some of the benefits that are accruable to states that adopted and implemented the harmonised ROW price will unlock the inherent digital potential of the states.

    He said that such states were set to enjoy and maximise the opportunity that pervasive broadband penetration could offer as their people could now leverage on uninterrupted telecommunications services which were not enjoyed before.

    “The reason for this is that telecom infrastructure would give them the opportunity to express their gifts and talents.

    “Fast pace of development enabled by robust Telecom and ICT Infrastructure, the direct multiplier effect of this pragmatic executive order, is that these states will experience a noticeable development both in the private and public sectors.

    He added that it would push the revenue of the states forward.

    “It will also make companies that do not have presence in these states to consider opening a branch in the states which will lead to employment generation thereby reducing rural-urban migration,” he said.

    ATCON, therefore, advised other states yet to implement the approved harmonised ROW price of N145 per liner meter to take a cue from these states, to enable telecom and ICT infrastructure to speed up the needed development in Nigeria.