{"id":118081,"date":"2024-05-05T17:15:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T16:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/reliable-affordable-internet-access-still-a-challenge-for-many-nigerians-nigcomsat"},"modified":"2024-05-05T19:26:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T18:26:28","slug":"reliable-affordable-internet-access-still-a-challenge-for-many-nigerians-nigcomsat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/reliable-affordable-internet-access-still-a-challenge-for-many-nigerians-nigcomsat","title":{"rendered":"Reliable, affordable internet access still a challenge for many Nigerians \u2013 NIGCOMSAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT, Engr. James Egerton-Idehen has disclosed that reliable and affordable internet access remains a challenge for many Nigerians.<\/p>\n<p>She disclosed this while delivering a lecture entitled \u201cChampioning Innovation: Digital Transformation and Economic Diversification in Nigeria\u201d, on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The 20th Herbert Macaulay Memorial lecture and Symposium was organised by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Faculty of Engineering.<\/p>\n<p>The NIGCOMSAT boss stressed that affordable internet access remained a challenge to many Nigerians particularly those in rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to a 2023 report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), only about 40% of the population has access to broadband internet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe current administration has set ambitious targets, as part of the National Broadband Plan, the government agencies like GALAXY and NIGCOMSAT are required to boost Nigeria\u2019s broadband penetration rate to 70% by the end of 2025,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n<p>She further explained that as part of the National Broadband Plan, they were expected to provide coverage for at least 80% of the population, especially the underserved and unserved populations, by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The NIGCOMSAT managing director hinted that the goal was to reduce the gap of unconnected Nigerians in rural areas from 61% to less than 20% by 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWork has commenced through programs like \u2018Project 774,\u2019 an initiative by the FMoCIDE (Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation and DIgital Economy) in coordination with agencies like Galaxy BackBone, USPF (Universal Service Provision Fund), and NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) to provide connectivity to each Local Government Area (LGA) in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are 774 LGAs in Nigeria. This is crucial as lack of access in rural Nigeria limits the ability of individuals and businesses to fully participate in the digital economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Renewed Hope Agenda of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has clearly enumerated its plans to take advantage of the fourth Industrial revolution,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n<p>She stressed that infrastructure to deliver digital transformation goes beyond broadband networks of internet connectivity.<\/p>\n<p>According to her, \u201cNigeria is known to have over six submarine fibre cables landing its coastal shores yet very few homes connected to fibre, with the massive bandwidths provided by fibre yet to get to the last mile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther infrastructural elements include data centres and cybersecurity systems. Investing in modernising this infrastructure is essential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNigeria is publicly known to have about 11 data centres, while countries with similar nominal GDP like Egypt and South Africa have 14 and 36 respectively. Provision of infrastructure across the nation, beyond the urban and semi-urban areas remains at the foundation of digital transformation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReliable and affordable internet access remains a challenge for many Nigerians, particularly in rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to a 2023 report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), only about 40% of the population has access to broadband internet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe current administration has set ambitious targets to as part of the National Broadband Plan, the government agencies under the FMoCIDE like GALAXY and NIGCOMSAT are required to boost Nigeria\u2019s broadband penetration rate to 70% by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, as part of the National Broadband Plan, they are expected to provide coverage for at least 80% of the population, especially the underserved and unserved populations, by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal is to reduce the gap of unconnected Nigerians in rural areas from 61% to less than 20% by 2027. Work has commenced through programs like \u2018Project 774,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\">Nigeria<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT, Engr. James Egerton-Idehen has disclosed that reliable and affordable internet access remains a challenge for many Nigerians. She disclosed this while delivering a lecture entitled \u201cChampioning Innovation: Digital Transformation and Economic Diversification in Nigeria\u201d, on Saturday. The 20th Herbert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":118080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[1570,2140,6306,254],"class_list":["post-118081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigcomsat","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reliable, affordable internet access still a challenge for many Nigerians \u2013 NIGCOMSAT - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT, Engr. 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