Ericsson pledges to deepen Nigeria’s telecoms market with broadband deployment to unserved areas

Management of Ericsson Group, a multinational technology and networking services and equipment company, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden has expressed willingness to deploy its broadband to Nigeria’s ‘unserved and underserved’ areas.

The company made the disclosure when some its top management staff paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The Company said it was going to deploy the latest innovative technology to this end by placing emphasis on the tripod of availability, accessibility and affordability of broadband – the leading item of NCC Management’s 8-Point Agenda.

The Ericsson team led by Shitlesi Makkhofane, head government and industry relations including Peter Olusoji of Ericsson Nigeria, was received on behalf of the management of NCC by Sunday Dare the executive commissioner, stakeholder management.

Makkhofane said Ericcson had studied the Nigerian telecoms market and discovered that vast potential of the market was yet to be fully tapped, thereby expressing readiness to take advantage of the opportunity.

He equally said the visit to the telecoms regulator was to seek clarifications on licensing requirements for a couple of businesses, including type approval procedure for certain equipment because of its interest in exploring the realities of the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G networks; huge data management; as well as providing cyber security solutions to enable network interoperability and traceability to check the use of cloned devices that pose threat to security.

The Ericsson team however expressed concern on scarcity of Forex in the country and its implications for the development of telecommunications infrastructure and market.

Responding, Dare expressed NCC Management’s appreciation of the team’s visit as well as its knowledge and interest in the Nigerian telecom ecosystem. He expressed delight on the issues raised by the Ericsson team and assured the team that the NCC will continue to do what is right to attract FDI for the development and growth of the telecoms industry in Nigeria.

Ericcson is regarded as a global leader in delivering ICT solutions. It is estimated that 40% of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks. It has customers in over 180 countries and comprehensive industry solutions ranging from cloud services and mobile broadband to network design and optimization.