Low and Expensive Bandwidth Remains Key Bottleneck for Nigeria’s Internet Diffusion: A Proposal for a Solution Model.

Abstract

Although Internet and telephone density has experienced quantum growth in the last ten years since President Obasanjo’s Telecommunications Deregulation policy, a large proportion of the citizens, particularly those living in the remote communities do not still have access to telephone and the Internet. Part of the problem is the continuing collapse of local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which has been attributed to high cost of bandwidth paid in US Dollars, absence of good energy supply, weak and poor service delivery. These bottlenecks have dwarfed the expectations of the citizens to fully participate in the new world economic order galvanized by e-commerce and world trade. It is estimated that M.I.T in Boston USA has bandwidth allocation that surpasses all the bandwidth allocated to Nigeria put together. Low bandwidth has been found to handicap effective Research and Development efforts by academics and professionals in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. To create a quantum leap for accelerated diffusion of Internet and telephone applications, there is urgent need for private/public sector intervention and collaboration to improve current ICT infrastructure and Local Bandwidth capacity in order to reduce cost of application and improve Quality of Service. We have proposed as solution- the launching of additional communications satellites in the orbit, aggressive deployment of broadband wireless technology, construction of fibre optics backbone around the country to link to Africa-1 hub, Free Space Optics, WiMax Technologies to expand density. The National Communications Commission (NCC) which is the Apex body that allocates spectrums should put up effective control mechanisms for radio frequency users to improve infrastructure and Quality of Service. This paper has also attempted to provide mathematical guide for the accurate estimation of bandwidth requirements for organizations to reduce cost of monthly subscription.

KeyWords: ISPs, Quality of Service, Internet Diffusion, energy supply, bottlenecks, Bandwidth tariff.