Firm to Invest N25bn in Northern Telecom Network

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Abuja-based Backbone Connectivity Net work (BCN) Limited, has began laying fibre optic cables to connect the Northern region of Nigeria with bandwidth telecommunication connectivity.

The project aimed at providing the region with bandwidth network for easy access of internet connectivity and other support services for Cellular will cost about $200 million (about N25.6 billion) when completed . Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Monday, the managing director of the BCN, Dr. Kwame A Boakye said his company was determined to provide high quality broadband connectivity to all including private telecom operators, internet service providers, cable TV and video services.

He said the project would start from Abuja - Kaduna - Zaria - Kano with seedlite network from the last quarter of this year and would be completed in two years. According to him, the second part of the project would start from Kano - Katsina - Malumfashi - Funtua - Zaria - Abuja - Akwanga - Jos - Bauchi - Gombe - Biu - Yola - Bamboa - Maiduguri - Damaturu - Potaskum - Azare - Dutse and Kano. The last part of the project which would called NiLite 11 network would begin in the second quarter of 2007 with Sokoto - Birnin Kebbi - Kamba - Yelwa Yauri - Kontagora - Bida - Minna - Abuja.

He explained that seedlite network has 19 node sites and would cover over 800 km, 36 fibre optic cables and 700 km, 100 mm duct with 4 sub- ducts as well as 15,3 meters by 4 meter equipment shelters. He said the main objective of the project is to improve information and telecommunications technology in Nigeria through backbone technology.

He said as the need for ICT increases daily, provision of infrastructure becomes necessary to support it. He said the BNC services would enable internet service providers and private telecom operators with low cost and reliability of services.

Daily Trust.

[Richard Akindele]

City-wide fibre optic cables should not be handled by the private sector. The state or local government should handle the operation, and then lease it to any firm that needs to make use of it.

Allowing a private firm creates unfair monopoly.

Fibre optic cables can carry a lot of data, and can be used for so many different purposes at the same time.

Because of this kind of huge capacity that fibre optics has, if it's owned by one company, any other companies that need to setup a fibre-based service in future, must pay exorbitant fees to that private company to be able to use it.

But if the state or city government owns it, any company can lease space on it at a standard rate. This encourages enterpreneurs to establish businesses, because they know they're not under any particular company's control.

Our biggest problem in Nigeria is that we don't take the time to conduct research before we jump into implementing a plan.

In a situation like this, it is incumbent upon government planners to conduct a research on how the same thing is done around the world. That way, we won't make the same costly mistakes that other countries have already made.

[Richard Akindele]

For those who are not sure what fibre optic cable is, I'll try to explain it in non-technical terms.

Fibre optic cables can easily carry all kinds of data across a city. With fibre optic cables laid down, homes could easily have cable tv, Internet access, phone service, etc. All of these service are carried on the same thin fibre optic cables over long distances without a degradation of the signal.

Copper wire can do the same thing, but copper wire creates interference, and hence the signal becomes corrupted over just a few miles. Fibre doesn't have this problem.

So, to supply a city with data services that I listed earlier, the ground must be dug up and the cables laid, just like your water pipes.

Once the fibre cables have spanned the whole city, now different companies can begin using it to carry data to people's homes. For example, one company may supply cable tv services, another may supply phone services, and yet another Internet access.

Fibre is very expensive! So, it is not practical for every company to lay down its own cables. Instead, the same fibre cables laid once, can be used by all companies that need it.

This is why we shouldn't allow any particular company to have a monopoly on it.