The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited has targeted 40 percent broadband penetration in the country by the year 2015.

Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, made this statement in a paper presentation at the Convergence forum in Lagos, on Friday.

He lamented the low percentage of broadband access in the country revealing that only 28 percent of the population was connected to the Internet.

Ahmed-Rufai recalled that the International Telecommunications Union had set a target of 50 billion broadband connections by 2020 while proposing that 40 percent of households should be connected to broadband globally by 2015.

NigComSat shared the vision and would be in the forefront of ensuring that Nigeria met the target. This company will have huge impacts on the country’s ICT sector in terms of cheaper Internet access as well as improved e-Commerce, telemedicine and e-Learning, he said.

Ahmed-Rufai added, “Our strategic plan is centered on using our assets, the staff, the satellite and complementary ground infrastructure as an extraordinary vehicle to drive the National ICT revolution in pursuit of self-reliance and required skills for engineering and technology domestication of secured satellite bandwidth and telecommunication services for defense, security outfits and other strategic telecommunications and broadcast needs of the nation.”

The NigComSat boss said the government-owned satellite communication provider had partnered with Main One Cable Company. This is line with their objective to expand the coverage of the Main One Internet Protocol services via satellite and to achieve their goal.

Joseph Mayton