About 300 million more Africans are expected to be online in the next five years, according to experts in the telecommunication industry.
This increase in capacity is expected to boost Internet access in the nation and on the continent. However, experts have said that there is a need to increase last-mile capacity to fully enjoy the fruits that recent investments are set to herald.Recently, Google announced the berthing of its subsea cable, Equiano, in Lagos. According to the company, its subsea cable would boost Nigeria’s GDP by $10.1bn by 2025 and create 1.6 million jobs within the same time period.
“There are many factors also influencing last-mile. This is something that the government, the regulator, the relevant ministries, and the service providers in the private sector are working through. According to GSMA, the global association of telecom companies, 303 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa were connected to the mobile internet in 2020. The figure would grow to 450 million people in 2025, the GSMA said.
Digital technologies are expressed as digital platforms for users to leverage on. These digital platforms are powered by the Internet. Without commensurate investments in last-mile infrastructure, other forms of investments would only paper over the cracks without solving actual problems. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, last-mile connectivity in the nation was largely mobile with lower investments made in fixed lines infrastructure within the past two decades.
The NCC said, “Infrastructure is at the very core of the success of every National Broadband Plan worldwide. It has also become obvious that one of the challenges hindering broadband penetration and service coverage in the country lies in the glaring infrastructure deficit in the telecommunications sector in Nigeria as a subset of the infrastructure deficit across the Nigerian economy.
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