Seven states waive RoW charges to expand telecom services

Lack of local content, affordability, poor energy stall connectivity 
Seven states in the country have jettisoned Right of Way (RoW) levies for telecom operators.

The Guardian gathered via a Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) document that the states include Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Adamawa, Bauchi, Anambra and Nasarawa.

The waiver will help the country build resilience in connectivity, especially in the hinterlands, where there has not been any form of telecommunications access.

For those conversant with the Nigerian telecoms industry, the RoW challenge is an anecdote for more than a decade of contentions among stakeholders (operators, federal, state and local councils) over complex policies across states and non-uniformity in RoW charges impacting greatly and negatively on national connectivity rollout.

In 2013, the National Economic Council (NEC), through the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), had agreed on a maximum RoW charge of N145 per linear metre of fibre. But many governors refused to apply the agreement and some of them were charging as high as N6,000 and even N9,000 per linear metre of fibre, unwittingly helping to scare off telecoms investors and operators.

Some states, especially in the west and eastern parts of the country, are notorious for charging excessive RoW levies.

The N145/linear metre is also enshrined in the National Broadband Plans of 2013 to 2018 and 2020 to 2025, to serve as a guide for even and rapid expansion of telecoms services across the country.

To buttress the challenge created by the lack of telecoms expansion, a report by the GSMA, the global body of mobile network operators, revealed that about 120 million Nigerians had no access to mobile Internet at the end of 2023, thus creating a huge usage gap for the country.

In its just recently released ‘State of Mobile Connectivity Report 2024’, GSMA described the usage gap as the population, who live within the footprint of a mobile broadband network but do not use mobile Internet.

According to the telecoms advocacy body, globally, some 3.45 billion people (43 per cent of the world’s population) still had no access to mobile Internet by the end of last year.

GSMA said the least connected region globally is Sub-Saharan Africa, where only 27 per cent of the population uses mobile Internet services, leaving a 13 per cent coverage gap and a 60 per cent usage gap.

The report noted that for the unconnected in Low and Medium-Income Countries (LMICs), which include Nigeria, device affordability and digital skills and literacy are the main barriers to mobile internet adoption.

“In these countries, entry-level Internet-enabled devices cost 18 per cent of average monthly income, with this rising to 51 per cent for the world’s poorest 20 per cent.”

“In Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for a quarter of the global unconnected population, this rises to 99 per cent of average monthly income for the region’s poorest 20 per cent,” it said.

GSMA equally identified a lack of digital skills and literacy as the second-biggest barrier overall, but the top issue in Asian countries surveyed as part of the new report.

Other established barriers to people using mobile Internet are a lack of relevant, localised content and services, concerns over safety and security, and limited access to additional critical infrastructure and services such as electricity.

The report noted that while many people who use mobile Internet do so daily, it is typically for only a relatively small number of the most popular use cases, adding that an average of 43 per cent of mobile Internet users in surveyed countries reported wanting to use it more.

The telecoms body noted that among those already using mobile Internet, the most commonly reported barriers to increased usage include safety and security concerns, affordability (particularly of data but also handsets), and the connectivity experience.

Speaking on the report, the Chief Regulatory Officer at GSMA, John Giusti, said while progress continues to be made in improving infrastructure and increasing mobile Internet adoption, significant digital divides exist.

Giusti said although most users access mobile Internet daily, their activities were often limited to just one or two activities, even as many expressed a desire to do more.

This, he said, highlighted persistent barriers – affordability, lack of skills and literacy, concerns around safety and security and a lack of relevant content and services – that prevent users from getting online and then using mobile internet to meet their life needs once they are online.

“Governments, mobile operators and international organisations must collaborate to address barriers such as affordability, digital skills and awareness of mobile Internet and the benefits it can provide.

“This effort must also focus on investing in local, digital ecosystems and ensuring robust online safety frameworks,” he said.