The President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr Lanre Ajayi, has urged the Federal Government to transform the information communication technology sector through deeper broadband infrastructure.

Ajayi told newsmen in Lagos that broadband infrastructure in Nigeria was still inadequate to increase its penetration. He said that internet services such as e-governance, e-education and e-health would not be adequately provided if broadband penetration remained low.

Ajayi urged the Presidential Committee on Broadband to expedite action to enable the country to achieve deeper broadband penetration by 2018. According to him, poor telecoms infrastructure, legislative constraints and shortage of bandwidth were hindering broadband penetration.

He said that adequate broadband infrastructure in rural and urban areas would enable the country to meet its Vision 20:2020 in digital economy and information society.

“With low broadband penetration rate and high cost of access to broadband, significant work still remains to be done and significant investments still required to be made. Adequate infrastructure will drive the demand for broadband that would be more affordable and accessible to its end users,” he said.

The ATCON official said that the achievement of a digital economy was in line with the Federal Government’s dream for sustainable economic growth.

“We all know that, globally, issues around broadband development have continued to be on the front burner. This is because of the importance of broadband in the provision of various converged service types, especially the growing demand for speed, efficiency and effectiveness in provision of data. Indeed, the association is imploring governments to put in place policies that will drive broadband development and make it the digital right of every citizen through affordability and access,” he said.