Rural telephony just taking shape

Federal Government's National Rural Telephony Project (NRTP) appears set for take-off after frequent delays in the past, as the contract negotiations will soon commence.

The Federal Ministry of Information and Communication reveals to NEXT on Sunday that the contract negotiations with the five prospective operators of the project will commence on July 15.

Onuoha Nnachi, technical adviser to the Minister of Information, tells NEXT on Sunday, "By our calculation, July 15th is the tentative date to start negotiations and each of the would-be operators is expected to come on a different day and make presentations on what they observed."

Project expectations

To be implemented under a Lease, Operate and Own model, the project is aimed at providing at least 50,000 telephone lines to rural communities and underserved areas throughout the country as the government seeks to facilitate a development-oriented information society where all citizens have access to basic telephone connection.

The five prospective operators-Herzonic Limited, Gicells Wireless Limited, Key Communications, Telefund Limited and Voice Wares Network-were directed by government to do a two-week due diligence on the network infrastructure on ground across 218 locations nationwide. The two-week period elapsed at the end of June.

Mr. Nnachi further reveals, "Since the current equipment were deployed as far back as 2006-07, we expect some level of changes. Our independent status report is being done by our own department of telecommunication. Those two reports will be compared and graded before the final handing over of the facilities to the operators."

The infrastructure in the 218 locations nationwide comprise base stations, six transmission networks in each geopolitical zone and seven Modern Switching Centres (MSC). They are distributed across all the senatorial districts in the country with each having two centres.

Hiccups

Like most government projects, the NRTP is not devoid of hitches. The project, to be financed through a $200 million concessionary loan from the Chinese government, was billed to take-off about four years ago.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Chinese government in 2001, but actual work did not commence until 2004. This follows the failure of government to meet the 15 equity down-payment it agreed on with the Chinese government when the contracts were signed in July, 2002.

More recently, after the December 18, 2008 bid rounds that produced the five prospective operators, speculations were rife that government plans to review the list of winners. But the speculations were doused by the permanent secretary of the ministry at a meeting on June 15, where the operators were given the checklist and a go-ahead to inspect the infrastructure in the 218 locations.

Mr. Nnachi, however, attributes current hiccups being experienced in the implementation of the programme to the change in the leadership of the ministry.

He argues, "Recall the [new] minister resumed office on December 18, which was the opening day of the bids. Based on the situation, we had to conduct an in-depth study of the situation before we can say let's go ahead with the project... This in-depth study has taken us more than four to five months to get the statistics right and to be sure it followed due process-presidential approval, Attorney General's advise, amongst other things to get us to where we are today."

He gives the assurance that every structural need have been put in place regarding the administrative work and that there will be a full monitoring team to ensure the full implementation as the years go by.

Similar programme

However, critics of the programme describe it as elaborate and unnecessary since there is already a similar programme, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), established by the law for a similar purpose as the rural telephony programme.

Established by the Communications Act of 2003, the USPF is aimed at promoting and facilitating ICT infrastructure in rural and underserved areas across the nation. It is expected to promote private sector investments, encourage competition, and give priority to self-sustaining programmes and projects.

While the NRTP is to be financed through a foreign loan, the USPF is to be funded by mobile operators who are to contribute 2.5 percent of their profit to facilitate access to ICT services in the rural and underserved areas.

But Titi Omo-Ettu, a telecom consultant with Lagos-based Telecom Answers Associate, distinguishes between the Natural Rural Telephony Project and the Universal Service Provision Fund.

He says: "In my opinion, NRTP is not similar to USPF. The USPF on the other hand is not a creation of the NCC but of the law. It only happens to sit in NCC, again as prescribed by law." However, Mr. Nnachi argues that there is no difference, as both are government programmes. Whatever the similarities or differences, those in the catchment communities are looking forward to enjoying the benefits of the programmes.