By Christy Animam
Ahead of the planned release of National Dig Once Policy document which is targeted at boosting fibre infrastructure for high-speed internet in Nigeria, IHS Towers Nigeria, a telecoms infrastructure company, has shared insights to guide adoption and successful implementation of the policy in the country.
Business Metrics reported that Professor Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, had earlier announced that the federal government would unveil the policy document on Dig Once before the end of this year, 2022.
The ultimate goal of the policy is to lower the cost of broadband internet by promoting installation of ready-made buried fibre conduit for seamless fibre deployment in the country. It will also lead to quick rollout of telecommunications services to the unserved and underserved parts of the country.
Addressing a forum recently in Lagos, Olabode Ojo, Director, Technical (Fibre Operations) at IHS Nigeria, highlighted benefits, technical considerations, challenges and models of Dig Once adoption to created adequate awareness on the policy.
While he stated that benefits of dig once outweigh its short-term cost, he also warned that Nigeria should recognise beforehand and deal with a number of issues that may hinder the policy from successfully achieving its mandates.
He identified lack of coordination, lack of transparency, short-sighted governmental budgeting, and unavailability of proprietary data and lack collaboration as bottlenecks against seamless adoption and implementation of the policy in Nigeria.
According to Ojo, “operator Transparency is important. Companies have reacted positively to dig once policies, but some are not ready to give competitors easy access to their robust fibre connections.”
Ojo further identified seven factors to be considered in developing technical measures required in implementing Dig Once policy in Nigeria.
According to him, they are:
- Capacity: sufficient number and size of conduit needs to be installed to accommodate current and future needs.
- Segmentation: conduit users need to have the appropriate level of separation from each other for commercial, security, or operational reasons.
- Access: vaults (or chambers) and handholes need to be placed to provide access to conduit and the ability to pull fibre. Vaults need to be spaced to minimise the cost of extending conduit to buildings and other facilities that may be served by fibre.
- Robustness: the materials, construction standards, and placement need to reasonably protect the users’ fibre in a conduit, and not unduly complicate maintenance and repairs. 100mm PVC-ducting or multiple subducts are used in many installations.
- Architecture: sweeps, bend radius, and vault or chamber sizes need to be appropriate for all potential sizes of fibre. Installation should also consider the location of other utilities.
- Life-cycle management: an accurate record of all infrastructure assets should be kept in a GIS-based platform for proper administration,
- Wider considerations: Government should also be mindful of the enabling and ancillary infrastructure needed to deliver connectivity. This includes ensuring access to power supplies and any wider energy infrastructure.
“The many benefits of Dig once cannot be overemphasized. A Dig Once approach that encourages cooperation but does not prevent excavation when needed is most
recommended for federal, state, and local agencies. Operators’ participation should also be non-exclusive thereby enabling the desired rapid broadband penetration for the country,” he concluded.
What you should Know
Olabode Ojo spoke as a guest speaker at the fourth edition of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) recently held in Lagos, which focused on National Dig Once Policy and Fribre Strategy Implementation in Nigeria with the theme: Laying the Foundation for Ubiquitous Broadband for Nigeria’s Economic Breakthrough.
The Dig Once Policy is meant to boost fibre infrastructure in the country to achieve up to 120,000Km targeted by Nigeria in the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025.
Adequate fibre will lower costs, especially capital expenditure (CAPEX), for operators and allow them to deliver internet connectivity to Nigerians faster and cheaper.
The federal government, through the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Pantami, has said a National Dig Once Policy has been drafted and is being perfected, with plan to release it before the end of 2022.
