ADEYEMI ADEPETUN urged operators to invest more in infrastructure ahead of impending ‘’broadband revolution’. Excerpts
WHAT is your assessment of Nigeria’s ICT sector ?
Well, back in those days, telecommunications was a nightmare in Nigeria. In 1998, we were hardly able to make a telephone call. That was the NITEL era. But the last 12 years, we have seen lots of improvements.
Today, according to my estimates and some researches, I would say about $30 billion have been invested in the sector both local and foreign investments. With this much investment, Nigeria was able to, according to memory, as at the ending of last year, there are about 150 million connected lines, out of which 120 million were active.
From where we came, hardly will you see 300,000 lines functional. The last 12 years have seen tremendous growth in the ICT industry. The sector has contributed to development of the country, the GDP and the entire economy. I am a witness to that. It is an amazing market.
Nigeria’s revolution in telecoms will never stop because we are at a time now, of the coming of smartphones; coming of digital information.
Nigeria’s infrastructure has increased and improved. The Nigerian people are also major influence in this revolution. They love technology like anything. This is the only country in Africa, where you will find 4G phones for a 3G network. People are receptive to technology change.
So as a result of that I see a second revolution coming. With regulatory environment becoming more dynamic, I hope it will continue the dynamism and then telecoms in this country will see a secondary revolution. My prediction is that the growth and transformation in the future will be more than what is presently happening.
Today, there are some challenges but those challenges would have to be overcome by new technology, migration from 3G to 4G, this will position the country again to lead Africa.
How will you compare the Nigerian market with other markets—Africa and the world?
Two things have been playing major roles. First is the receptability of the market, the population and Nigeria’s mentality to all these technology, all these communication means. That is the major foundation.
There is a very good regulatory environment. The regulator plays a very significant role, a very transparent role and dynamic to make this happen. We can also say that these two aforementioned brought investors came into Nigeria. This is a market where people can afford new technology. The affordability and also love for new technology and environment of good regulation, all these are fuelling the growth here, which is rear in other countries.
For example, in Ethiopia, where I am from, there is only one operator just like the days of NITEL, which is government regulated. There is presently no environmental attraction to develop and explore the market. We are second to Sierra Leone as least Internet perpetrated country in the world. So in Nigeria, environment, government and the regulator have all played significant roles to jump-start this revolution.
What are the challenges you saw in the last 12 years telecoms revolution in the country?
This is where I believe Ceragon as a company could play a big role. Like I said Nigeria is a big market and the demand is high here. If supply could go at the pace of demand, it would have helped a lot. I think currently with the coming of smartphones, the demand for data, video will be increased. But presently, we are having mostly 2G networks that cannot support the growth or explosion in data, video and voice, so there is a need for migration from 3G to 4G.
There is also a need, even the fact that there are only few spectrum available, there must be technology that use existing spectrums, The present spectrum requires higher capacity to function efficiently, this is where companies like Ceragon comes in. Ceragon has the technology and capacity. Within a given spectrum, we can double it, quadruple its capability in the backhaul system, which we see as choking the present system.
So operators have to use this kind of technology to remove these current problems, but the eventual solution is the migration from 3D to IP, which must be done very fast. They must invest heavily and buy the required technology. They have to look into the technologies that are futuristic in nature.
The interesting thing is that all these technology are readily available in the market. We need not to reinvent the wheel; all we can do is to invest in more technology.
Can the Nigerian market still accommodate more players, especially in the GSM sub-sector?
Definitely yes! The market is big and Nigeria has to grow. It is a huge market, given the fact that people are carrying multiple phones, this is a big figure as about 120 million, which is still growing and more people are still going to use phones. So, there is room for expansion and competition is a miracle of development. So, given that reality, there is room for competition. Competition in itself is a miracle of development. There must be continuous room for development through competition. If there is no competition, the present players may remain complacent. To trigger competition, regulator must make spectrum more available. This will trigger merger and acquisition; this will also lead to better services.
How viable is backhaul wireless services and its value in Nigeria?
Having been here for many years and see the transformation, according to any estimation and the microwave market will worth between $500 million to $600 million. That is on a yearly basis. We have GSM, CDMA WIMAZ, oil industry, banking, government, they all use microwave. So, I estimate close to about $600 million of the total value of this market and it is big for many players, which is also competitive in nature.
Nigerian government should play a leading role in engendering competition in this area. I believe the market is big enough for Ceragon and other competitions.
Can we really say operators are exploring this market to better their service offerings?
The market in a way is very buoyant despite the various challenges including call drops, incomplete calls, fibre cuts, and vandalism, among others. Operators are yet to really explore this market; I will say they need to migrate. It is the best for them if they must overcome some of these challenges.
Laying of fibre is okay, but that is not the best. It cannot be the option. I would say there is big room for microwave, because these fibres are prone to cuts across this country.
At Ceragon, we believe microwave backhaul has potential to reduce these challenges. It has high capacity, cheaper and very reliable. We are considering a product called FibeAir. This product is good for the country. It will help when looking at the challenges of fibre cuts and right of way, among others. Fibeair provides solution. This will greatly assist. What we do is to lay down microwave as a backup to the fibre facility.
This product has up to 8GB capacity of customers. Where a fibre is cut, 4G capacities in the microwave will rescue the situation, by switching the customers according to priority.
To what extent will your service, solution lower operating cost for an operator?
Most times is about 50 per cent. With existing spectrum resources, we can almost double that capacity through our new technology using the mimor. Secondly, we have a technology, which not many of them in the industry have. We have technologies that could help them manage their power generating capacity. We notice that in most stations (BTS) there are about two generating sets, so we have created a technology that will safe us from these challenges. The technology is called multi-tasking. It is a split-level radios, which doesn’t really need an engine. This can save probably about 50 per cent of the cost. They are fitted for an environment like Nigeria and they are cheaper.
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