During the virtual launch of the NCC’s five-year strategic plan in Abuja, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami, stated that the new Strategic Management Plan (SMP) by the Nigerian Communications Commission would be a pedestal to drive the execution of the Federal Government’s digital economy vision.

The event was held virtually in compliance with the Federal Government’s directive on social distancing. Present at the launch was a few officials from the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, critical stakeholders in the telecoms sector, and members of the Nigerian Communications Commission.

In the Honorable Minister’s statement, he mentioned that the launch of the SMP showed the Commission’s effort in fast-tracking the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the National Broadband Plan (NBP) of the Federal Government.

‘’The launch of the SMP is a clear indication that the Nigerian Communications Commission is undergoing great improvement and I’m excited about that,’’ he added.

Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the SMP is the corner-stone that will aid the NCC in driving its telecom regulatory mandate in the telecoms industry.

The SMP (2020 – 2024) is the strategy the Commission is looking to put in place for the planning, monitoring, assessment, and analysis of its set goals and objectives.

This SMP has five pillars and 25 intended outcomes. The pillars include; regulatory excellence, market development, universal broadband, strategic partnering, and development of the digital economy.

The Chairman of Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Oluremi Tinubu who was represented by the Senator Obinna Agbo praised the Commission for its outstanding performance so far. He wished the Commission great success in implementing the Strategic Management Plan.

Airtel Nigeria, one of the leading telecom service providers in the country has partnered with a new division of the Trace TV group to bring to your screens Living in Bondage – Breaking Free. A classic drama thriller on the Airtel TV platform. 

The drama that was directed by veteran actor, Ramsey Noah, is a sequel to the 1990’s blockbuster; Living in Bondage. 

‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ has received excellent appraisals taking home 11 awards at the 2020 edition of the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCA) and numerous positive reviews from movie lovers, reviewers, and movie critics. 

The movie has broken records on the Box Office securing the 11th position on the list of highest-grossing Nigerian films of all time. 

The Chief Commercial Officer Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, commented on the introduction of the movie of Airtel TV. “Airtel will always go the extra mile to provide quality and top-notch content for consumers on the Airtel TV platform,” he said. 

“In a bid to revolutionize the television viewing experience for all its customers, the telecom provider brings to you the best shows, best movies and the best of live TV through our television platform. Our sole aim is to engage viewers with premium content and simultaneously bring laughter, joy, and happiness to everyone,” Balsingh added. 

To enjoy Airtel TV, customers can download the app on Google Play Store or Apple Store, as the case may be. Launch the app and complete the registration process. Once done, you can begin to stream any channel or content of your choice. 

Customers will have data-free access to contents on the app for the first seven days after download. Thousands of Nollywood and Hollywood blockbusters are available to choose from on the Airtel TV at no subscription cost. 

Multichoice, a South African TV satellite dish operator will be adding streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix to its DSTV platform soon. This new development comes as the TV operator continues to experience growth in the market, adding about 900,000 GOTV and DStv subscribers to its pay-TV platform over its last financial year.

Already, Multichoice offers its video-on-demand subscription-based streaming service, but in a bid to add a new set of fresh subscribers to its already large 19.5 million subscriber base, the company is looking to add the Netflix and Amazon Prime Video streaming services to the services it offers.

Now, by paying their monthly bill in the local currency for the Amazon add-ons and Netflix, existing DStv customers will have access to the aforementioned video streaming services.

As the world is very familiar with the use of Netflix and Amazon streaming services, DSTV is adding their services to its platform to discourage customers from abandoning the satellite TV service for streaming services.

Now, customers can access Netflix and Amazon Prime Video without leaving the DStv platform.

Calvo Mawela, Multichoice CEO said for long we have been a content aggregator, and this is proof of our aggregator model at work-providing simplicity, choice, and convenience for our customers.

Also, Multichoice is getting ready to unveil it’s yet to be named DStv dishless stand-alone streaming service. The service is expected to mimic its existing Direct-to-Home service, but without the need for installation.

MainOne, a West African premier connectivity and data center solution provider, has been chosen by the government of Burkina Faso with financial backing from the World Bank to provide PAV-Burkina with bulk capacity to nodes in Bobo Dioulasso and Ouagadougou.

Being a landlocked nation, Burkina Faso has been faced with a lot of challenges in terms of accessing world-class connectivity and widespread internet access due to the lack of infrastructure and the reluctance to explore operational broadband service delivery in the country by major operators.

In response to this challenge, the Burkina Faso government in collaboration with an association of mobile operators and internet service providers, has come up with the PRICAO Initiative.

The PRICAO Initiative was created to bring about the birth of virtual landing points as a platform for the extension of broadband network coverage in the country. The Initiative aims to upgrade the quality of connectivity, increase the use of the internet, and facilitate the overall performance of ICT services in the country.

With the support of the World Bank, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Postal Services has created a cooperative association to set up an independent and competitive structure for connectivity services. The association brings together significant electronic service stakeholders to complete a turnkey project that will make fiber optics transmission between Ouagadougou and Dakola possible.

Burkinabe State has been able to set up a 200km fiber optics transmission link from Ouagadougou to Dakola, thanks to the $20 million plus the World Bank shelved out in support of the PRICAO Initiative.

The first phase of the project commenced in 2018, phase two of the project will commence in the second quarter of 2020 and MainOne has been appointed to deliver phase two of the project.

MainOne is expected to provide Ouagadougou with 10Gbps broadband and Bobo Dioulasso with 5Gbps.

With the financial support of the World Bank and the technical support of the PAV BF cooperative, broadband internet penetration increased from 10% to 19% in 2019.

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