Nigeria leads West Africa in Internet speed

Details: James Barton; Category: Trends & Forecasts; 04 December 2012; 9321 views

Nigeria's telecoms and IT sector has massive growth potential, but the country must first overcome a number of key industry challenges before the sector can fulfil this...

Nigeria's telecoms and IT sector has massive growth potential, but the country must first overcome a number of key industry challenges before the sector can fulfil this. One of the largest challenges is the lack of reliable power supply to the region, although deficiencies in ICT infrastructure must also be addressed. Software piracy remains rampant within the country, with a recent study noting that the commercial value of unlicensed software installed in 2011 represented an 82% rate of piracy, nearly double the global rate of 42%.

The Nigerian government has launched a series of initiatives to reinforce the information and communications technology (ICT) sector within the region. These efforts include major investment programmes and partnerships to assist the sector in addressing some of the challenges that prevent the growth and development of the ICT sector. With the arrival of landed gateway cables into Nigeria, the radical innovation is contributing to improving ICT infrastructure and bridging the digital divide. The 14,000-km fibre-optic submarine cable, named the West African Cable System (WACS), has a capacity of 5.12 terabytes per second (TBps), and began service earlier this year.

Nigeria appears to be spearheading the growth in the West Africa region, a recent report showing that the country has overtaken South Africa in terms of Internet speed less than eleven years after reforming its communications networks and market. The report also revealed that Nigeria has an average connection speed of 322kbps with a peak rate of 5674kbps; while South Africa's average speed is faster at 496kbps, the country's peak speed is only half that of Nigeria, at 2172kbps.

With strong support from its government and keen interest from major private sector players and the outlook for Nigeria, the West African country's ICT sector looks promising. As it continues to grow, there will be significant investment opportunities in the areas of infrastructural development, research and training, as well as cyber-security.