TheCable

Nigeria will participate at the yearly international telecommunications union (ITU) conference which will hold in Busan, South Korea, between September 25 and September 28.

One of the major aims of attending the conference is to deepen the growing broadband internet segment in the country.

Tony Ojobo, spokesman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said this in a statement issued on Monday.

Quoting the national broadband plan (NBP), Ojobo said the country is expected to attain 30 percent broadband penetration by 2018.

The penetration currently stands at 21 percent.

Ojobo said the ITU conference is a global platform for major industry players, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), countries and organisations to network and share ideas about new developments and technologies that would lead to better-connected societies.

“It is an event for international visibility of innovative Information and Communications Technology (ICT), products/services and solutions from around the world,” he said.

“In general terms, it involves high-level debates on the core issues affecting ICT industry, sharing knowledge and working for sustainable development.

“Although Nigeria has had a very robust telecommunications sector with active connected subscribers in the region of 150 million and about 110 percent teledensity, the NCC believes that more efforts should be deployed to deepen broadband penetration.”

He added that the country would host an investment forum at the conference and broadband in Nigeria would be the focus of discussions.

Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, and Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice-chairman of the NCC, among others will lead the Nigerian delegation to the conference.