The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, has restated the Commission’s readiness to support law-abiding investors like Meta, (formerly Facebook), which are responding to current calls by the Nigerian government through investments targeted at boosting the current digital economy agenda.
Maida, who made the promise when he received a delegation of Meta, led by the company’s Vice President for Africa, the Middle-East and Turkey, Kojo Boakye, when they visited NCC’s headquarters in Abuja, said the regulatory support to all investors, including operators in Nigeria, will be predicated on their playing by the rules and regulations guiding the sector.
He said the Commission placed high premium on compliance to industry laws, regulations and guidelines as such will also engender a level-playing field for all licensees and other stakeholders in the industry for sustaining a healthy competition and guaranteeing a sustainable growth in the Nigerian telecoms sector.
In his remarks, Boakye told the NCC boss that the purpose of the visit was to congratulate the EVC on his appointment by the President and to intimate him of on-going efforts to land 2Africa Cable in Nigeria.
According to him, at 45,000 kilometres long, the 2Africa submarine cable will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects and will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), Asia (via Saudi Arabia), and Africa.
The industry expert projected that the system would become operational this year, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa, with a design capacity of up to 180 terabytes per second (Tbps).
Boakye explained that 2Africa would deliver much-needed Internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and underpin further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for billions of people, especially in Nigeria.
He solicited NCC’s support in sailing through all necessary legal and regulatory hurdles in landing the submarine cable to complement existing backbone infrastructure in Nigeria.
He also hinted that Meta, through a consortium, planned to land 2Africa cable simultaneously in Lagos and Akwa-Ibom states “in order to ensure those not yet connected are connected while those already connected are given opportunity for enhanced and affordable access.”
Photo Caption
L-R: Vice President, Africa, Middle-East and Turkey, Meta (formerly Facebook), Kojo Boakye and Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, during a visit by Meta’s delegation to the Commission in Abuja recently.
