The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission,
NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has said that Nigeria can fight recession
through broadband networks noting that the nation’s social and
economicdevelopment depends greatly on broadband networks and every
10percent increase in broadband penetration in developing
countries results in a commensurable increase of 1.3 percent of GDP.
Danbatta made the assertion in Abuja while presenting a public lecture
organized by the Nigerian Academy of Engineering themed “The National
Broadband Plan as a Catalyst for Social and Economic Transformation:
The NCC mandate”.
The NCC boss drove home the point that broadband had helped to meet
sustainable development goals in every sector and are basic national
infrastructure.
He said broadband networks aids manage healthcare, streamlines
transport networks, meet sustainable development goals, aid job
creation and help business and government processes to improve
productivity and service delivery.
He averred that social interactions, creation of equal opportunities
between rural and urban dwellers, increase efficiency and reduce cost
of data services are some of the social benefits of deployment of
broadband infrastructure in the country.
According to him the commission has developed a strategic vision
centered on eight pillars to address the National Broadband
Penetration challenges as well as strengthen the telecommunications
industry to aid socio-economic development and ensure the attainment
of 30% broadband penetration by 2018.
Danbatta said Nigeria’s active mobile broadband penetration has
reached 20.95% relative to less than 10% a year ago and that internet
penetration has reached a milestone of 47.44% second to South Africa
due to the robust regulatory framework of the commission and that
telecommunications has contributed 9.8% in the second quarter of 2016.
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