By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Commissioner for Energy and Mines, ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Douka Sediko, said that no fewer than half of ECOWAS population are still without access to broadband due to issues of reach and affordability.
Mr. Sediko said this while giving an overview of the telecommunications market and challenges in West Africa, at the ongoing Delocalised Meeting of the Joint Committee of ECOWAS Parliament on Telecommunications and Information Technology/Education, Science and Culture/Trade Customs and Free Movement in Niamey, Republic of Niger.
Represented by Program Officer, Telecommunications and Networks of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Mawuli Amoa, the commissioner said, access and affordability remained an issue in some parts of West Africa as far as effective mobile communication is concerned.
Sediko disclosed that The Gamblia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra-Leone, are connected to only one submarine cable, making their international connectivity vulnerable and limiting competition in the broadband market.
The commissioner further said lack of national backbone networks in Liberia and Guinea-Bissau were impacting the uptake of internet.
Sediko listed the challenges to include relatively higher cost of deploying and maintaining digital infrastructure in the rural and remote areas, coupled with lower Average Revenue per User (ARPU).
He also listed security issues in some parts of West Africa which disincentivize the rollout of digital infrastructure in the affected areas.
The issues, he added, further worsened the urban and rural digital divide.
On roaming within the sub-region, Sediko said re-imposition of SIIT in Guinea, following the lack of reciprocity in the application of the regulation by other member states and insufficient cooperation between the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and lack of cooperation between some operators in the implementation of the regulation, were some of ECOWAS roaming challenges.
Sediko also said, the telecommunications sector within the region has seen development over the past years, characterized by ten submarine cable systems with 33 landing points connect ECOWAS to the rest of the world in terms of communications including the internet.
He said that no fewer than 44 mobile telephone operators operate in the region, with a combined 410 million mobile telephone subscribers (active SIM cards) representing an average of 103 percent mobile telephone ownership.
He concluded that there is unique mobile subscribers penetration rate of 50 percent and smartphone adoption and utilisation rate of 44 percent, including an average internet penetration rate of 54.3 percent across the region.
