NCC proposes open access models for broadband acceleration

Nigeria’s regulator has released a document outlining new broadband structures to boost penetration.

In its Open Access Next Generation Fibre Optics Broadband industry consultation paper, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) proposes the establishment of a national infrastructure company or companies to accelerate the deployment of broadband networks. The paper is based on consultations with industry stakeholders and also addresses the question of last mile access, through the issuance of available 2.3GHz spectrum to complement existing solutions.

Noting that the Commission is committed to putting in place a new broadband deployment environment through an ‘Open Access Model’ in line with the National Broadband Plan, NCC says the "Open Access Model" has been examined as the model for optic fibre transmission network deployment to bridge the current gap and deliver fast and reliable broadband services to households and businesses. The model is also envisaged to address the challenges of congested and unplanned towns, the challenges around infrastructure sharing and other issues such as high cost of Right of Way.

The document proposes an industry model including a licensed InfraCo or InfraCos to achieve the objective of a nationwide broadband metropolitan and backbone deployment on an open access, non-discriminatory basis.

It says InfraCos would:

* Provide wholesale Layer 2 transmission services on a non discriminatory, open access, price regulated basis. InfraCos may also provide Layer 1 (dark fibre) services on commercial basis.

* Focus on the deployment of metropolitan fibre and provide transmission services, available at access points (Fibre to the Node or Neighborhood - FTTN) to access seekers

* Leverage existing inter-city fibre to deploy their services

* Purchase/lease transmission or long haul fibre capacity from other providers, where available, for the purpose of interconnection

The NCC says: "The proposed industry structure offers InfraCos as entities that complement the existing industry players by focussing on the market gap (primarily metropolitan fibre) and offering non-discriminatory open access wholesale bandwidth services to the industry players. This is expected to offer uplift in the business plans of the existing players while achieving the national objectives of deeper penetration and higher broadband services take-up in the country."




Source: Biztech Africa