The Nigerian government on Thursday announced plans to invest in the construction of 7,000 telecom towers throughout the nation’s rural areas as part of efforts to bridge the digital gap.
Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, made the announcement at a meeting with State House correspondents in Abuja on Thursday.
The minister explained that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the construction of 7,000 additional towers tol support the nation’s current 90,000-kilometre fiber-optic cable deployment.
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Nigerian government’s commitment to bridge digital gap
Minister Tijani said that the government is dedicated to ensuring Nigerians living in underprivileged areas have “meaningful access” to high-quality telecommunication services.
The minister further said that the administration’s larger objective of enhancing economic possibilities and digital inclusion for all residents is in line with the rural infrastructure investment.
He said, “The priority for this government is meaningful access. We don’t want our people to just have access to telecommunication services; we want it to be of high quality.”
“That is why the NCC has been working thoroughly to ensure that we shift the focus not just to quality of service, but to quality of experience,” he emphasised.
50% telecom tariff hike
Speaking on the approved pricing hike for telecom operators, Minister Tijani stated that the approval was a difficult but necessary decision to balance the interests of the investors, stakeholders enterprises, and citizens.
He stressed that the telecom industry, which has so far employed close to half a million Nigerians, must be protected by the government.
“We have to ensure that when telecom companies invest, we can keep them afloat. This is a sector that employs close to half a million people in this country, including the value chain,” the minister explained.
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Difficult decision between telecom sector’s sustainability and customers’ affordability
According to him, the government had to carefully balance the need to maintain telecom businesses’ viability with the need to guarantee that Nigerians would always have access to reasonably priced, high-quality services.
“It was quite a difficult decision, balancing the need to allow these businesses to be sustainable and stay afloat, but at the same time ensuring that every citizen can have access to telecommunication services,” the minister added.