Nigerians may be under going high levels of exploitations from and poor quality of service from Internet Service Providers (ISP’s). But this may just be one of the many disadvantages the technical hitch Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat-1) had on November 10, 2008 has on the nation.
In November 2003, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the sum of $450 millions to be invested into the NigComSat project. This amount was expected to cover the cost of the satellite itself, the ground station, training of engineers and other related expenses. NigComSat project had communication capabilities anticipated to offer bandwidth to other operations to enable them address issues of access into geographically-dispersed terrains.
Apparently, the scenario where internet user in Nigeria hardly get value for their connection cannot be detached from the fact that NigComSat-1, Africa’s only communication satellite, failed out of orbit and today, more than ever, the over 400 Interest Service Providers (ISP’s) licensed by Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to deliver wireless broadband access have come to play a major role in determining the quality of our internet experience. But in a situation where the ISP’s do not have direct control in the offer of internet services and only rely on foreign satellite providers to relay services, the question of efficiency in connectivity remains a problem.
Emmanuel Okafor is the administrative Manager of one of the ISP’s operating within the environs of Abuja-Content Oasis Ltd. When he spoke, he attested to the fact that internet users often suffer from poor services. He however blamed the poor services on the absence of NigComSat-1 which left them (ISP’s) with no option than rely on relay services from internet providers that are not indigenous “Some years back, Nigeria launched NigComSat-1 into space but at the moment, it is not there and the kind of service we expect is not yet available to the end user in Nigeria”.
He said the fact that ISP’s in Nigeria depend on other internet providers whom are not indigenous limits the efficiency in internet connectivity because the infrastructure is not on ground.
Speaking in the same vain, Sugh Amo, an Abuja based Information Technology (IT) expert said the effective connectivity services internet users desire in Nigeria cannot be easily accessed as long as the reliance on sub-marine bandwidth persist. According to him once the cable has a problem, the user at the receiving end will have difficulty accessing the internet. He also accused the ISP’s of often worsening the situation of poor internet connectivity. According to him, instead of relaying connectivity to users according to the individual bandwidth capacities they pay for, ISP’s share the same bandwidth to other consumers for multiple gains. “A situation where bandwidth meant for one user has 3-4 users accessing it makes connectivity very slow. They ration the users, while some have access in the morning, other have access in the afternoon with the rest accessing the net at night effectively”.
Evidently, Ernest Ndukwe, Former Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also recently, decried the poor quality of service rendered by ISP’s in the country. He was speaking at 54th Telecoms Consumer Parliament held in Abuja which had as theme: Internet Service delivery in Nigeria: prospects and challenges.
