Telecoms sector needs innovative PPP to deepen Nigeria digital economy – Danbatta

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta, has called for innovative public-private partnership strategies that will attract investment and deepen Nigeria’s digital economy.

The EVC made this call while speaking at the Virtual ICTEL Expo 2021 held in Abuja on Tuesday, said such PPP models should ensure safety and resilience of telecoms infrastructure.

He noted that the next frontier for enriching the digital economy globally is through sustained investment in broadband or high-speed Internet access.

According to him, the commission is committed to continuously engaging relevant stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors, and outside the country in order to ensure that appropriate infrastructure befitting a modern digital economy is available to Nigerians.

The EVC said, “The role of public-private partnership in infrastructure development in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized because an adequate, robust and functioning infrastructure is the bedrock of communal and societal development.

“Therefore, to meet future challenges, our industries and infrastructure must be upgraded by evolving an enduring PPP model that services all the sectors of the economy.

“Objectively, the high level of infrastructure deficit and its attendant effect on socio-economic development in Nigeria explains government’s concern and search for an alternative means of providing infrastructure for the Nigeria’s teeming population.

I, therefore, urge our panel of eminent speakers to suggest better and more innovative PPP approaches that may be explored by the government towards making our telecoms infrastructure safer, more resilient, more robust, and how we may attract more investment into the sector,” Danbatta said.

He pointed out that the NCC forms strategic collaboration and partnership with both private sector players and other sister public sector organisations, which has helped it to make significant progress in its regulatory role.

He said, “The Commission has also continued to enhance existing infrastructure through the licensing of a category of private sector players known as Infrastructure Companies (InfraCo), who are to deploy fibre optic cable on a wholesale basis across the country with broadband Point of Access (PoA) in each of the 774 Local Government Areas of the country.

“This InfraCo scheme is running on a PPP arrangement, where the government provides a counterpart fund as a subsidy to stimulate faster, a more robust and resilient broadband infrastructure rollout across the country.”

“The InfraCo project being implemented by NCC and other similar regulatory initiatives which has PPP component are in line with policy expectations of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025; the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030; the NCC Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 2020-2024, as well as a number of regulatory instruments and frameworks which envisioned the PPP model as a central organising principle for fast-tracking the development of Nigeria’s telecoms industry.”

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