The Federal Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) Group for the provision of fibre-to-home Internet (FTHI) service to cover three million homes across the country in the next three years.
Under the project, WIOCC is investing an initial $10 million, which is expected to increase over time.
Speaking at the signing, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said the country’s goal of building a $1 trillion economy requires strong connectivity to build a strong economy.
Tijani said one of those areas that Nigerians have not truly benefited from is things like FTHI as they mostly rely on connectivity on their mobile phones.
The minister observed that the project, when completed, would put Nigeria into a position where the people would have access to world-class and high-speed broadband Internet, not just in the major cities, but also in the rural and unconnected locations.
He noted that there is immense value and opportunity in being connected to fibre adding that the target is to ensure fibre to offices, institutions, schools and hospitals.
Tijani underscored the role of digital technology in driving productivity across all key sectors adding that the government’s intention is not to have the cost of providing these services continue to go up.
The minister observed that WIOCC was investing significantly in ensuring that the infrastructure and the know-how that are required to get this opportunity to all Nigerians irrespective of where they live.
“They have already been working on this in places like Lagos and a few other states and what we want to see is that government working with companies like this to help them to seamlessly deliver their goals across the entire country, not just in those few states. This is the support that we will give to any serious business that would like to invest in our nation.
“We are a significant market of over 230 million people. We are growing by five million every year. We will also be creating job opportunities. So, when you look at the agreement, there are specifics on how we are going to work with WIOCC to also train the people who will end up deploying this network as well. It doesn’t stop there. We’re going to be working on training small businesses as well, because not just the individuals that will lay the fibre, we need a lot of small businesses that will participate,” he said.
Also speaking, the WIOCC Group Chief Business Development Officer, Darren Bedford, said the project when completed would have a big impact as most parts of the country are unconnected now.
