The Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, revealed that the penetration of broadband in the country increased to 45.43% at the end of October 2020.
In a statement signed by the minister’s technical assistant, Dr. ‘Femi Adeluyi, said that the increase in broadband penetration was due to the increase of 4,061,731 broadband subscriptions between September and October 2020.
The Minister also attributed the increase in broadband penetration to the conscientious implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy for the overall benefit of the economy to achieve a Digital Nigeria.
In particular, Pantami noted that Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan (2020-2025), along with harmonizing right-of-way rates across states and protecting critical national infrastructure across the country, among others, have had a significant impact on broadband. penetration.
Broadband is critical to sustainable economic growth and, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) broadband series, broadband contributes to economic growth through greater efficiency in business processes, accelerating innovation and a more efficient functional deployment of companies.
Also speaking about the importance of broadband, the minister said: “A report entitled” How important are mobile broadband networks for global economic development? “Shows that a 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration results in an increase of approximately 0.6% to 2.8% in gross domestic product? (GDP).
“In some countries, GDP increases by more than 6%. Increasing broadband penetration is leading to growth in the Nigerian economy in a way that transcends the ICT sector.
“Broadband has supported growth and enabled financial institutions to provide services to their customers. It has also allowed the provision of digital services in different sectors of the economy.
“It is noteworthy that all of them are part of the digital economy, which has been defined as” that part of economic production derived solely or mainly from digital technologies with a business model based on digital goods or services “- consisting of the digital sector plus emerging digital and platform services.
The Minister, therefore, directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as regulators of Internet services, to ensure that the quality of service improves.
Dr. Pantami would also like to urge all interested parties to continue supporting the Ministry in the implementation of the Broadband Plan for the general benefit of the economy.
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Broadband has supported growth and enabled financial institutions to provide services to their customers. It has also allowed the provision of digital services in different sectors of the economy.