By Emmanuel Elebeke

ABUJA —In line with its mandate to take broadband connectivity to the hinterland, the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology has said it is offering a subsidy covering a distance of about 6,000 kilometres to service providers intending to roll out broadband infrastructure to the rural and underserved areas in Nigeria.

The minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnoson, disclosed this, yesterday, at the commemoration of the 2014 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day in Abuja.

Johnson said the subsidy for the broadband roll out became necessary to enable investors increase deepen their reach beyond the urban and developed cities to connect every nooks and crannies of the country.

She also disclosed that the ministry was going a step further in subsidizing the infrastructure of base stations in these same areas with special focus on the rural and underserved areas.

“We have obligation to roll out infrastructure in rural unserved and underserved areas. We do this by giving incentives to investors. In doing that, we calculate what the subsidy will be and by doing that, we will subsidise about 6,000 kilometres of fibre optics roll out in rural areas between 2014 to 2015 to enable investors roll out fast and to make profits because these are areas they consider to be economically unviable.”

Also, the minister disclosed that the ministry, through the Universal Service Provision Fund, USPF, had spent a total of N1.5 billion in connecting the 36 federal universities with broadband facility.

This, she said, was also part of the ongoing efforts to connect not only the rural communities but also the schools within a shortest time.