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Nigeria and 3G: A tale Of Quality
Related to country: Nigeria

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NIGERIA & 3G: We stand by Quality
Nigeria often described as the heart of Africa by its potent brand ambassadors joined the group of territories with easy access to affordable telecommunication facility as late comers after many African countries have taken the bold attempt to have ubiquitous access. It is clearly understood that Nigeria has jumped off from the erratic, hissy and outdated telephone infrastructure which were fraught with acquisition bottlenecks , corruption, negative bureaucratic structures to a colony where access to own a telephone line comes with little or no contractual agreement as it is readily available for as low as $2.50. It is evident that the surge in the growth rate and GDP improvement of Nigeria in the last few years has been substantially aided by the sharp unprecedented rise in teledensity. The effects of privatization of telecoms which was brought to free Nigeria from the hang noose of state owned albatross which are still in a disgusting state is still highly felt in the pulse of Nigerians.
The need to catch up with global trends has necessitated for expansion of frontiers in the telecommunication sector with the adaptation of new set of technologies. The saturated voice market occasioned by geometric increase in mobile and fixed line subscribers and need to tap into the promising revenues of the data and media streaming markets has led to the adoption to the third generation network (3G). In the converging world of internet and telecoms, insatiable need for high speed internet access, real time applications such as video on demand, podcast, video calling, navigational services and so on, there is need by telecommunication to delivery real broadband services using advanced technology platform. 3G services has already been deployed in Europe and most telecom providers are regretting access to the 3G market due to expensive auction fees, poor consumer approach, inefficient delivery compared to promised data rates while some in Asia and other parts in Africa are smiling to the bank. Nevertheless, it is factual that 3G is to provide a spectrum efficient technology with ability to allow running of bandwidth hungry applications.
It is worth commendable that Nigeria is reacting fast to broadband and the need to provide optimum and value added services to consumers with new vistas of experience. The need for mobile internet services is inevitable and most especially when it seems a death sentence has been pronounced on ISPSs. Most cybercafés have closed shops due to infrastructure problems such as power shortage and increasing bandwidth cost and lately to offer of Internet access from the Telcos using especially CDMA2000 1x solution. The germane issue at hand is does the contemporary Nigerian need broadband even when South Africa has a million broadband users? That despite the numerous benefit s of 3G are Nigerian Telcos ready to offer efficient advanced telephone service when its 2G services has been riddled with adequate infrastructure, poor traffic management and radio planning which in turn gives the subscriber a horrible experience during peak periods? The puzzle is why will Nigerian telcos dabble in a more sophisticated and real-time burst technology when its 2G services don’t have network capacity during peak periods especially festive seasons and holidays?
No one will doubt the financial muscle of Nigerian Telcos but are they ready in capacity, staffing, back up networks to meet intensive bandwidth services or are Nigerians on their part ready to bear the cost and frustration of an inefficient network when video streaming or IPTV service? I hope broadband subscribers won’t mind missing and important goal in live football telecast when real time download content get distorted? Are the premium data rates on a farce or a marketing initiative only visible on billboards?
I don’t sound pessimistic about the chances of 3G success in Nigeria. Some analysts have argued that most operators are not fully prepared but just creating a marketing image as world class companies ready to take up the next level of technology while some feel it is right step to take Nigeria to the forefront of telecom global business.
3G has come to stay through Visafone, Glo, MTN, Starcomms and other budding investors but quality service is what customers awaits. It is noteworthy that high quality broadband services are being offered through ADSL and also the promotion of FTTH technology now massively deployed globally. The HSDPA and EVDO variants also have proven level of efficiency especially the former with South Africa but the networks have to be built on robust premium quality and not massive roll out reminiscent of the yester years. The telecom regulator NCC needs effective vigilance on quality service being offer so as not to build a 3G network which ends up being a traffic snarl.
The ‘club’ structure of the SAT-3 has not helped broadband access but we expect Glo submarine fibre cable and also other promising future constructions to force bandwidth prices down as the satellite technology does not provide a lasting approach for terrestrial access. A hybrid structure which is deployed through a robust wide spectrum air interface solution backed with efficient backbone fibre technology and satellite technology in remote areas is needed by Telcos to provide affordable and efficient broadband service.
3G is definitely the next level in telecoms and internet experience and as a country we need induction into the advanced way of communication within the years to come but with adequate caution on nothing but seamless quality.

Oluseun Onigbinde B.Eng is a prolific speaker and consultant on ICT, power and environmental issues. For comments and enquiries contact mobile: +2348024033857 & oluseunonigbinde@yahoo.com


April 12, 2008 | 1:27 PM Comments  0 comments

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