Facebook, NCC to partner for enhanced connectivity

Isola Moses

In a move to boost connectivity, enhance digital culture, and boost business activities in the country, Facebook is seeking a partnership with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Report says Ibrahima Ba, Investment Lead at Facebook Office in the United States, when highlighting the centrality of infrastructure to the flourishing of digital culture,  said robust infrastructure is the “bedrock of the massive connectivity” that signposts Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

“Without adequate and right type of infrastructure, there can be no robust connectivity,” Ba said.

He recalled that Facebook had successfully undertaken two connectivity projects in Edo and Ogun States.

The projects in the two states of the Federation, he stated, involved 800 kilometers of fibre connecting institutions and operator towers.

“Considering the connectivity gap that still exists in the country, there is a great need for more and even further expansion of infrastructure because increased penetration of services will require further deployment of infrastructure which will encourage investment and promote digital culture,” he said.

According to Ba, Nigeria is very important to Facebook for many reasons, but particularly because it is Africa’s most populous country.

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive (EVC/CE) of NCC, commended the group for the model it has adopted in participating in the Nigerian market by partnering with licensees of the Commission.

Speaking through Edoyemi Ogoh, Deputy Director Technical Standards and Network Integrity at NCC, Prof. Danbatta assured the team of NCC’s irrevocable commitment to infrastructure expansion in order to improve connectivity.

NCC is aware of how central infrastructure is to the expansion of telecom services, and this realisation has informed NCC’s adoption of the Open Access Model (OAM) and licensing of Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) to cascade fibre to the hinterland of Nigeria, he stated.