Operators, others left out in new national broadband council

Key stakeholders in the country’s information and communications technology have been left out in the newly reconstituted Nigeria National Broadband Council, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.

A document of the new council sited by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek which contains list of members of the council revealed that no telecommunications operators in the country and industry associations such as Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) among others are represented in the council as against the practice in the old council membership where telecommunications operators and representative of ATCON, ALTON and others were represented.

The present scenario raises doubt over the ability of the council to supervise effectively the implementation of the national broadband plan to achieve 30 percent broadband penetrative by 2018 without the people that will implement the policy.

Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON who was a member of the defunct Council and now excluded from the new one, said: “I am of the view that critical industry players should be members of the council otherwise it will be more of an advisory council than implementation council.

The object of the council is to make things happen and it is operators that can make things happen, they are the ones that understand the challenges of the industry in terms of providing broadband services in the country.