The Federal Executive Council meeting has approved the launch of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will support the delivery of an additional 90,000km of fibre optic cable across the country.
Dr. Bosun Tijani, the minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, announced this through this verified X handle, stating that the fibre optic cables will complement existing connectivity infrastructure and deliver a stronger national backbone for universal access to the internet across Nigeria.
President Bola Tinubu had received briefing from the Minister prior to today’s FEC meeting.
“Over the last few months, we have put in extensive groundwork to set up this SPV which will be modelled in governance and operations similarly to some of the best Public-Private Partnership setups in Nigeria, such as NIBSS and NLNG.
“Working with partners and stakeholders from the government and private sector, this SPV will build the additional fibre optic coverage required to take Nigeria’s connectivity backbone to a minimum of 125,000km, from the current coverage of about 35,000km. Upon delivery, this will become Africa’s 3rd longest terrestial fibre optic backbone, after Egypt and South Africa.
“This extensive coverage will enable us optimise the unique benefit of having 8 submarine cables already landed in Nigeria and therefore drive an uptake of the data capacity that the cables offer, beyond the current usage level of 10%.
“Building on our existing work with the Broadband Alliance, this increased connectivity will help plug the current non-consumption gap by connecting over 200,000 educational, healthcare and social institutions across Nigeria, ensuring that a larger section of our society can be included in the benefits of internet connectivity”.
According to the Minister, some of these immediate benefits include:
- Increasing internet penetration in Nigeria to over 70%
- Potential reduction of the cost of access to internet by over 60%
- Inclusion of at least 50% of the 33 million Nigerians currently excluded from access to the internet
- Delivering up to 1.5% of GDP growth per capita raising GDP from $472.6 billion (2022) to $502 billion over the next 4 year.
Recall that in March 2024, the FEC approved the Minister’s request to source funds to invest in fibre optic cables to cover the entire country.
The minister said that Nigeria plans to invest in 120 kilometers of fibre optic cable, but currently has about 35,000 kilometers.
The federal government also plans to complete the deployment of the fibre active network within the next two to three years.
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