By Emmanuel Elebeke

Given the spirit effort being put in place by various investors to bring about easy accessibility of broadband in Nigeria, the Chief Operating Officer of Mobitel Nigeria, Mr. Tomi Davies has said that Nigerians should get prepared for ubiquitous broadband access in the nearest future.

Mr. stated this in an interview with Vanguard Hi-Tech recently during a public function held in Lagos.

He noted that the Nigerian market has a bright opportunity of enjoying the benefits of broadband network by the time the ongoing projects on broadband deployment are competed.

“In my view, broadband has a very bright future in Nigeria, especially given what is happening everywhere in the world.”

According to him, the only infra structural challenge facing the various broadband initiatives in the country remains power, but expressed hope that the problem would soon be addressed given the promise made by the President is he wins the coming general elections.

I’m aware that the major challenge broadband penetration has in Nigeria is power, which the president has said would be one of the cardinal projects he would tackle if he wins in the coming election. All other candidates have equally promised to address it too if they win and with these promise, I see the Nigerian market enjoying the full benefits of broadband in the shortest possible time,” he opined.

On the planned implementation of number portability by the Nigerian Communication s Commission, NCC, the Mobitel COO said expressed confidence in the successful implementation of the initiative in Nigeria and the ability of the regulatory body to make the execution worthwhile.

I believe Nigeria market is very ripe for number portability. The level of frustration people have with network operators, going from one operator to the other is a challenge they face and to that extent I have know doubt in my mind that Nigeria market is ripe for number portability. I also think that the executive Vice Chairman of NCC did a thorough job by giving us a direction NCC is taking on, especially with reference to number portability and sim card registration.”

As part of Mobitel contribution, Mr. Davies said “we are already deploying 4G network across the country, the first of its kind with IP networks. By this way, we are delivery speed by 100 Mega byte per second currently within Lagos with a plan for a national roll out.

Broadband access is possible in Nigeria, and Ii believe that NCC is a credible organization and they tend to be well structured and appears determined all its set goals. One thing is sure, the data market will not mature until the big players in the industry begin to take data seriously and migrate to networks. This can only be made possible through broadband and I think that will happen in the nearest future.

He however commended the telecom operators in Nigeria in their effort at ensuring full deployment of broadband, this is even as he acknowledged that they have a very difficult environment to operate.