Economic factors in Nigeria-poverty level of the people
Access is not just about availability. Cost affects usage. High cost is still a barrier. While prices have definitely come down the cost of access is still too high to have a transformatory impact. There are presently price competition battles going on involving PTOs and GSM providers, which are steps in this direction. The provision of Internet by PTOs is also helping. But more needs to be done about bringing down call tariffs and rates not just communications acquisition cost. The aim should be low cost Internet and phone service.
The efforts of Nigerian computer manufacturers such as Omatek and Zinox Technologies are commendable and should be encouraged. However, because most of the computer hardware in use in Nigeria is imported, high computer prices are a barrier to access. e-business, telecommunications infrastructure is incomplete without affordable computing facilities. Although just like the phone and Internet costs, computer prices have been falling, more people, not just businesses, need to have access to reasonably priced computers for education, recreation, business and other creative activities.
Poor Electricity Supply
Epileptic power supply increases the cost of access. Supply of electricity needs to be optimal to enable businesses and banks to provide seamless online services through local areas networks, wide area networks and the Internet. Inefficiency is the word to describe a situation where everybody has to depend on power generators, as the primary, reliable power supply. This constitutes a barrier to growth and sustainable development. The growth of real e-business cannot take place or be of any significance in an environment with unreliable public power supply.
Quality of service
While availability has grown, this has not been matched by quality of service. It is not enough to have cheap lines and low cost bandwidth. Efficiency and accessibility of telecoms service should be paramount. Most operators have a lot of work to do in quality service especially in the areas of congestion and support. NCC may have to wield the big stick by sanctioning poor performers. Appropriate Licensing fees
NCC has done a lot as a pacesetter. But NCC needs to review the appropriateness of its license fees. How realistic are such fees for healthy competition? Will such fees as they are stimulate telecoms growth or increase the number of competent market players?
ICT Incentives
The market is large – the biggest in Africa! Opportunities abound! But more needs to be done to encourage investment in ICT, especially in the knowledge and creative areas. There is a need for a combination of incentives: reduction of import duties on ICT equipment, tax incentives for ICT companies, tax incentives for investment in ICT research, development and training efforts, local manufacture of telecommunications equipment and infrastructure. Again the essence of these incentives is to encourage growth and reduce access cost. If most ICT providers are faced with the problem of multiplicity of taxes, as is the case now, is this in sync with the growth that is needed?
The NITEL question
NITEL's performance as a national operator or even as a telecom provider is still way below standard. Although NITEL may no longer be the sole or dominant operator, its 450,000 lines is still a major chunk of infrastructure that can't be ignored. The Pentascope (present commercial managers of NITEL) experiment is clearly not working. For the many that depend on NITEL, improvement in performance and quality of service are key.
The SAT-3 project
The SAT3/WASC (Southern Africa Western Africa Submarine Cable) and SAFE (South AfricaFar East) cable system is a 15,000 km high performance fibre optic cable linking Europe, South Africa and the Far East. The essence is to provide cheaper and high quality telecoms alternatives to satellite links. However NITEL, the member of the consortium from Nigeria has not been able to use SAT-3 to add value to Telecoms in Nigeria. It is hoped that current discussions involving NITEL, government, Globacom and other members of the consortium will yield useful results.
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