Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, said this in his keynote address at the fourth Telecommunications Sector Sustainability Forum, held in Ikeja, Lagos.
He said the evolving primacy of data, as encapsulated in the slogan, “Data is the new oil”, “has continued to resonate globally with increasing intensity in the context of the emerging digital economy.”
Danbatta added that this explained why data centres have become a subject of special consideration by different regimes.
He noted that it required appropriate structures and frameworks to truly tap and optimise the opportunities provided by the new order.
The NCC EVC said the Commission, by the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (NCA 2003), has as part of its responsibility, the regulation of the telecommunications sector, as a critical driver of digital economy in Nigeria.
He said the fourth edition of the Forum, themed, “Mainstreaming Data Centres in the Nigerian Digital Economy”, is aimed at providing a platform for stakeholders to share perspectives on opportunities, challenges and impact that operations of data centre services hold within Nigeria’s digital economy.
“Data centre services, no doubt, hold the keys to the ultimate crystallisation of this new line of thinking within the ICT sector and, by extension, to the greater national economy of nations in so many ways.
“One of such is the added impetus towards improving the security and reliability of the nation’s digital infrastructure.
“The nature and functional model of data centres with special regard to its centralised architecture, with compelling assurance provides greater guarantee against various malicious attacks and unauthorised access to sensitive information.
“This is in addition to the efficiency engendered by the robust economies of scale through critical resources shared and made available by data centres,” he said.
The EVC said operators within the data centre space ensured that the well-established and globally accepted tripods of confidentiality, integrity and availability are so seamlessly provided for uptake by users in the most economical way.
He said the operators were able to do this by being able to substantially underwrite some of the critical resource gaps such as weak energy challenges.
“Recent developments point to the limitless treasure within this space. Africa has recently assumed a new frontier and compelling destination for global big tech players.
“These includes such giants as Google with its Equiano subsea fibre cable spanning 15,000 km from Portugal to South Africa with strategic landing points in Nigeria and Namibia and expected to increase connectivity more than five-fold within Nigeria while creating an expected 1.6m jobs.
“Also, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is equally at the threshold of launching its own subsea cable called 2Africa in 2024 to connect 16 African countries at an estimated cost of $1bn.
“It is targeted to generate close to $36bn of economic output within two to three years of operation,” Danbatta added.
Noting that these portends significant socio-economic impacts for Nigeria, he restated the debate around digital sovereignty and the need for national policy and regulatory frameworks to further localise traffic and data.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria has taken laudable steps to encourage and support data centres services in the country in its drive to ensure data sovereignty.
“This is encapsulated in the National Digital Economy Policy Strategy (NDEPS) Pillar #3 on Solid Infrastructure which states that: “The government will promote the development and deployment of robust and scalable data centre infrastructure.”
Danbatta added that this therefore goes to show that the data centres and their potential to attract foreign investment remain massive.
“The global data centres market is worth billions of dollars, and Nigeria is well-positioned to attract a fair share of this investment.
“By providing a reliable and secure environment for the services they offer within a well nurtured policy and regulatory framework, Nigeria represents an attractive destination for more investment in data centre services and operations.
“The implication of such investments on jobs in the construction, operation, and maintenance of these data centres can only be imagined.
“With the commencement of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the role and criticality of data centres become increasing overwhelming.
“This is underscored by the kind of efficiency derivable when critical resources are shared at costs far significantly smaller than the actual costs of setting up such resources from scratch,” he added.
Danbatta said data centres, therefore, provided a veritable platform for greater productivity and the attendant national competitiveness for businesses and public sector entities to effectively harness the opportunities to be unlocked from the estimated $1.2 trillion latent treasure within the AfCFTA continental block through its 1.3 billion people.
He said NCC has long recognised the imperatives around the sharing of critical resources within the telecoms industry, particularly in relation to recent engagements on regional roaming with the ECOWAS.
He said this was underscored by the Commission’s recent guidelines and framework, leading to emergence of collocation and infrastructure sharing entities such as tower companies that rest on this premise.
He further disclosed that the Commission had also concluded its framework, and further facilitated the test run on national roaming and active infrastructure sharing.
This, he said, was to further galvanise efficient roll out through a well coordinated network optimisation and expansion strategies.
Danbatta also said NCC recognised the place of broadband infrastructure and technology in interconnectivity and its impact on national development, increased content and social inclusion.
“Policy and regulatory initiatives had been geared towards public investment in broadband backbone networks through harmonisation of RoW charges and the allocation of more spectrum for existing mobile and 5G technologies,” he said.
The NCC EVC said, with the recognition of the new place of data centres within the ecosystem, the Commission had taken some proactive steps.
The steps, he said, have led to an active functioning market that brought about competition and improved quality of service.
He added that the steps were taken with appropriate regulatory measures to guide the industry in determining a cost-based transmission trunk link rates and mobile access networks.
“We have also carried out extensive assessment of the broadband value chain, including the analysis of market features such as ecosystem mapping, pricing, technology, regulatory climate and competition.
“These efforts have led to reduction in data prices in the mobile sector, including rapid expansion of non-voice service portfolios that created new revenue streams for network and data centre operators.
“Infrastructure outsourcing and collocation that created a positive impact on operators’ profitability with increased expansion to underserved rural areas towards increased user experience and greater data capture.
“More spectrum release for 5G services to further lower costs of providing mobile broadband services,” he added.
He said the recent conclusion of the framework and licensing of Mobile Virtual Network Operators represented another big bang in the industry after the launch of GSM in 2001.
“This is expected to engender greater expansion, more reach and additional choice to consumers in addition to enhanced service uptake on data centre operations.
“Digital platforms are expected to rapidly expand and stimulate the digital ecosystem across e-commerce, banking, education, entertainment, health and government.
“There have also been increased rollout of Fibre infrastructure across metropolitan areas, especially Fibre-to-Base stations required to support the surge in bandwidth demand,” he said.
The NCC boss however said data centres and their operators are not immune to the overwhelming challenges confronting the industry.
He identified the challenges to included digital literacy, poor power supply, multiple taxation and regulations at different levels of government.
He also listed the recent deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector, the attendant subsidy removal and the exchange rate harmonisation, as part of the challenges.
He said mainstreaming of data centres require collective efforts through individual and sectorial supplementary feeds and enabling supports.
