FG Issues New Guidelines To Improve Telecoms, Broadband Internet

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 Home ? News ? FG Issues New Guidelines To Improve Telecoms, Broadband Internet

The Federal Government has issued new Right of Way (RoW) guidelines for the laying of fibre-optic cables on federal highways in the country.
Industry watchers say this is a key step towards the eradication of poor quality of service in the telecoms industry.
An 8 member committee set up by the Omobola Johnson,minister of Communication Technology, and her counterpart in the ministry of works, Mike Onolememen, at the weekend submitted new right of way (RoW) guidelines to guide laying of fibre cables on federal highways.
The committee, made up of four members each from both ministries, submitted the report to the two ministers at the Ministry of Works.
The new RoW guidelines peg the chargeable RoW access fee for laying of ICTSP ducts and cables at N145.0/linear metre and N20.0/linear metre as annual maintenance access fee, subject to periodic reviews at five year intervals or whenever compelling circumstances demand such reviews.
The guidelines also stipulate that henceforth, applications for granting of RoWs will be treated and concluded within 30 calender days. The new guidelines mandate infrastructure sharing to reduce incidents of multiple digging up of roads which compromise the integrity of the roads and of such cables. A contravention of the guidelines will lead to suspension of RoW, revocation of RoW and a fine of a N1 million a day.
In her comments at the submission of the new guidelines, Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson emphasised that the collaboration and partnership between the two ministries was a demonstration of how President Jonathan?s cabinet works to deliver on the President?s transformation agenda.
She said that the report marks a very important milestone in the quest to improve quality of service delivery in the telecoms industry and would ultimately lead to a reduction in the cost of providing infrastructure in the country.
Johnson stressed that the implementation of the RoW guidelines at the federal level would lead to improved service quality and broadband penetration in the country because fibre is a key transmission element for broadband.
She added that the two ministries would continue to collaborate to deliver on the Federal Government?s transformation agenda and stressed the need for the guidelines to be adopted at the state level, in order to ensure fibre deployment nationwide. To underscore how low fibre deployment is in Nigeria, she stressed that the United Kingdom that is one quarter the size of Nigeria has 60 times more fibre than Nigeria.
She said that the communication technology ministry would continue to partner with the ministry of works to foster a holistic way of laying fibre across the country for the benefit of the industry. ??It?s a new era and a new time, in that we will begin to build the critical infrastructure that we need in the country??
In his remarks, the minister of Works, Mike Onolememen said that the issuance of new RoW guidelines was one of the firsts of the collaborative hallmarks of the Jonathan?s administration. He said that the ministries were synergising to deliver Nigeria to greater heights.
He said the need for the collaboration amongst the two ministries and the setting up of the committee, rose as a result of the need to coordinate the provision of infrastructure to Nigerians because of the plethora of companies bastardising RoWs without requisite benefits to the country.
He said that once Johnson broached the subject to his ministry, he immediately bought into it and the outcome is the issuance of new RoW guidelines that will facilitate effective service delivery in the telecoms sector.

Source: www.businessdayonline.com

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