Millions of Nigerians who are denied access to the internet due to its exorbitant cost may heave a sigh of relief as the regulator of the industry fine-tunes plans to make access available to the bulk of the population.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), arrangements have commenced to avail Nigerians with massive data Internet connection across the country at much lower rates.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, said the Commission had licensed and supported infrastructure development companies in the country to enable them deploy fibre optic cables to enable data-based startups harness and achieve their objectives of making internet services available to everyone.
Prof Danbatta stated this in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 during an ICT innovation forum, themed ‘Developing Nigeria’s tech eco-system, imperative for improving local content’.
Danbatta, who was represented by the NCC’s Secretary, Mr. Felix Adeoye, said the Commission was supporting the Federal Government in curtailing hate speech in the cyberspace and ensuring that data were utilised positively by Nigerians.
“Within the next few years you are going to see availability of massive data all over the country. We have licensed a number of infrastructure companies to deploy fibres all over the country and they have begun operations,” he said.
