Technology

NCC Seeks Robust PPP to Drive Digital Infrastructure

Published

4 years ago

28/07/2021

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for more innovative Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) approaches aimed to make telecommunications infrastructure safer, more resilient and robust in Nigeria.

This was made by Mr Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, while delivering his keynote address at two-day Virtual Information Communication Technology & Telecommunications (ICTEL) organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) themed Disruptions, Resilience and Governance in Digital Economy.

He said the agency was always exploring means to attract more investment into the sector.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that the next frontier for enriching digital economy globally is through sustained investment in broadband or high-speed Internet access.

Speaking on Exploring Public-Private Collaboration for a Robust Digital Infrastructure, Regulations, Investment and Policy, he said that the concept of PPP has become one of the commonly used models of collaboration among stakeholders to fast track socio-economic development whether at the global, regional and national levels.

According to him, in 2017, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) signed a joint declaration in Geneva, “on the advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, industrialization, infrastructure development and innovation”.

The UNIDO and ITU, driving innovation in ICTs together with 193 member states and over 700 private sector entities and academic institutional membership, planned to strengthen country-level collaborations.

The two agencies, Mr Danbatta said, “resolved to contribute to global, regional and national efforts toward achieving SDG9, and particularly through action plans that are designed to attract public-private partnerships and investment.

“The collaboration between ITU and UNIDO, thus, represents a very important commitment from global organisations to deliver measurable and sustainable solutions within countries, towards achieving the SDGs, with a focus on “infrastructure, industry and innovation,” through a PPP arrangement.

“It is on record that this kind of partnership is helping to fast track the realization of SDG9 with derivable quantifiable benefits to industry, including small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging economies.

“Similarly, it is particularly of interest that the African Development Bank (AfDB), in a White Paper on PPP Framework released in September 2020, was emphatic that the infrastructure gap in African countries acts as an impediment to their economic growth and development”.

According to the White Paper, the gaps impact not only the economic situation of the citizens of Africa but also the countries’ global competitiveness.

The paper also estimates that poor infrastructure shaves off 2 per cent of the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates.

“Suffice it to say that, the role of public-private partnership in infrastructure development in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised because an adequate, robust and functioning infrastructure is the bedrock of communal and societal development.

“Therefore, to meet future challenges, our industries and infrastructure must be upgraded by evolving an enduring PPP model that services all the sectors of the economy.

“Objectively, the high level of infrastructure deficit and its attendant effect on socio-economic development in Nigeria explains government’s concern and search for an alternative means of providing infrastructure for Nigeria’s teeming population.

“Thus, in 2005, the Federal Government established the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) with a clear objective to accelerate investment in national infrastructure through private sector funding; and to assist the Federal Government of Nigeria and its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to establish and implement effective PPP processes.

“It is gratifying that state governments have also adopted variants of PPP models in order to tackle the challenge of infrastructure in their respective jurisdictions”, the EVC recalled.

The NCC boss added that if the telecom and ICT sector is the real ‘infrastructure of infrastructure’ as it is often referred to because of its impact, efficiency and effectiveness on the growth of other sectors, it stands to reason, that the telecom sector is the most important sphere PPP should be adopted.

Interestingly, a 2012 World Bank report already documented how PPP projects have been used to provide broadband access nationally, regionally, or in rural areas to improve broadband access to unserved and underserved locations.

Indeed, the World Bank equally revealed in its 2021 report PPP that the PPP scheme is also helping in key areas of supporting the development of innovative policies, actions, standards and technologies in order to connect the unconnected in any nation, create jobs, enable efficient natural resource utilisation, and electronic waste management.

“The report also states that Public-Private Partnerships have also served as organising principles to facilitate product interoperability, reduce the digital and gender divides, and support growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

“In Nigeria, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is particularly noted for its faith in strategic collaboration and partnership as a central principle of its stakeholders’ relationship management and regulatory activities.

“Our daily regulatory processes are marked by consultations with a wide spectra of stakeholders as well as strategic partnering and collaboration with both private sector players and other sister public sector organisations”.

He said that following the liberalisation of the telecoms sector in 2001, the Commission has continued to facilitate investment inflow into the country’s digital space through licensing of many private sector players, who are deploying services in a different segment of the nation’s telecom market.

“This has resulted in rollout of massive infrastructure ranging from the deployment of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and laying of thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cables to every nook and cranny of the country.

“Hence, the sector has grown significantly in investment with significant access to an array of voice, data and other kinds of enterprises.

“The commission has also continued to enhance existing infrastructure through the licensing of a category of private sector players known as Infrastructure Companies (InfraCo), who are to deploy fibre optic cable on a wholesale basis across the country with broadband Point of Access (PoA) in each of the 774 Local Government Areas of the country.

This InfraCo scheme is running on a PPP arrangement, where the government provides a counterpart fund as a subsidy to stimulate faster, more robust and resilient broadband infrastructure rollout across the country.

While broadband penetration in Nigeria has reached 45 per cent at the moment, from less than 6 per cent in 2015, and by that fact stimulating digital activities in the country, there still exist access gaps which the Commission is making efforts to bridge.

It is noteworthy that the hitherto existing access gaps of 217 identified in the country have been reduced to 114 through increased collaboration between the Commission and stakeholders in the telecom ecosystem.

“Hence, the InfraCo project being implemented by NCC and other similar regulatory initiatives which has PPP component are in line with policy expectations of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025; the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030; the NCC Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 2020-2024, as well as a number of regulatory instruments and frameworks which envisioned the PPP model as a central organising principle for fast-tracking the development of Nigeria’s telecoms industry”, he said.

The EVC said that NCC is renowned for its tradition of engaging in robust stakeholder consultation on the development of its various regulations and policy initiatives.

Technology

AI Legal Tech Firm Ivo Gets $55m for Contract Intelligence

Published

22 hours ago

22/01/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The sum of $55 million has been injected into an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered contract intelligence platform, Ivo, to support product development and scaling as the company deepens its reach across the hundreds of organizations that already rely on its product, including Uber, Shopify, Atlassian, Reddit, and Canva.

The Series B funding round comes after a year of substantial growth in product performance, customer adoption, and market traction to accelerate its mission of making contract intelligence available to every business.

Since its last funding round, Ivo has grown annual recurring revenue by 500 per cent, increased total customers by 134 per cent, and expanded adoption within the Fortune 500 by 250 per cent.

Business Post gathered that the latest funding support came from Blackbird, Costanoa Ventures, Uncork Capital, Fika Ventures, GD1 and Icehouse Ventures.

Ivo is purpose-built for in-house teams that need both reviews with surgical accuracy as well as visibility into their complete contract library.

The company’s AI-powered contract review solution, Ivo Review, allows users to complete reviews in a fraction of the time; customers report saving up to 75 per cent of the time that manual review would demand.

The product standardizes a company’s positions and precedents using playbooks built and implemented by lawyers. This means that every contract is reviewed accurately, consistently, and efficiently, critical for large and globally distributed teams.

“Our goal has always been to make interacting with contracts fast, accurate, and enjoyable. Every key relationship in a business is defined by an agreement, yet most organizations struggle to extract the insights inside them.

“Our focus is to give in-house teams a trustworthy solution that helps them work faster and gives them visibility into their contracts that was previously impossible,” the chief executive and co-founder of Ivo, Min-Kyu Jung, stated.

Also commenting, a Principal at Blackbird, Mr James Palmer, said, “In-house legal teams demand products that are deeply accurate and aligned to how they work. The most sophisticated teams are incredibly selective about the tools they trust.

“Ivo’s traction with some of the world’s best companies shows it consistently exceeds that bar. With exceptional product execution and an uncompromising quality bar, we believe Ivo is defining and leading the category.”

The Senior Manager for Contract Operations at Uber, Ms Kate Gardner, said, “Uber selected Ivo because it was intuitive to use, demonstrated a high level of accuracy, could work in multiple languages, and met its confidentiality requirements. Furthermore, the Ivo team was highly responsive to Uber’s needs.”

Technology

Nigeria Leads in AI for Learning, Entrepreneurship—Google

Published

3 days ago

20/01/2026

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A new report released by global tech giant, Google, in collaboration with Ipsos, has revealed that Nigeria is writing the playbook on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it leads in AI for learning and entrepreneurship.

In the study titled Our Life with AI: Helpfulness in the hands of more people, it was shown that Nigerians are using AI tools for everything from education to entrepreneurship at a remarkable rate, showing immense optimism for the technology’s future.

It was disclosed that about 88 per cent of Nigerian adults have used an AI chatbot, a huge 18-point jump from 2024, placing the West African country well ahead of the global average of 62 per cent.

It was also found out that while the top use for AI globally has shifted to learning, Nigerians are taking it a step further, using AI as a powerful tool for personal and professional development.

A staggering 93 per cent of Nigerians use AI to learn or understand complex topics, compared to 74 per cent globally, with 91 per cent using the tool to assist them with their work.

In addition, the research observed that 80 per cent of Nigerians are using AI to explore a new business or career change—nearly double the global average of 42 per cent.

Nigerians have overwhelmingly positive feelings about AI’s role in the classroom and beyond, seeing it as a game-changer for education, with 91 per cent feeling AI is having a positive impact on how we learn and access information versus 65 per cent globally.

The report showed that 95 per cent believe university students and educators are likely to benefit from AI, as 80 per cent of Nigerians are more excited about the possibilities of AI, versus just 20 per cent who are more concerned. Globally, the split is much closer at 53 per cent excited and 46 per cent concerned).

Commenting on the findings, the Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google in West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said, “It’s inspiring to see how Nigerians are creatively and purposefully using AI to unlock new opportunities for learning, growth, and economic empowerment.

“This report doesn’t just show high adoption rates; it tells the story of a nation that is actively shaping its future with technology, using AI as a tool to accelerate progress and achieve its ambitions. We’re committed to ensuring that AI remains a helpful and accessible tool for everyone.”

Business Post gathered that the research was conducted by Ipsos between September 22 and October 10, 2025, on behalf of Google.

For this survey, a sample of roughly 1,000 adults aged 18+ who are residents of Nigeria and were interviewed online, representing the country’s online population.

Technology

NCC Grants Three Satellite Licences to Boost Broadband Services

Published

1 week ago

16/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has licensed three additional global internet service providers, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, BeetleSat-1, and and Germany-based Satelio IoT Services, as part of efforts to strengthen internet connectivity via satellite and to boost competition among existing internet service providers in the country.

Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network, designed to provide fast, reliable internet to customers and communities beyond the reach of existing networks, while BeetleSat (formerly NSLComm) is an international company with strong ties to both Israel and Spain, and its corporate structure involves multiple countries, building a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation of 250 satellites to provide high-throughput, low-latency, satellite internet, cellular backhaul, and mobility services globally, and Satelio IoT was approved for its planned 491-satellite IoT system, though only one satellite is currently in orbit.

NCC granted the global internet operators seven-year licences to each to operate in Nigeria from February 28, 2026, to February 28, 2033.

These operators were granted Ka-Band for their frequency band operations, and the licence is renewable after the seven years expiration, according to the regulator.

The NCC’s landing permit authorises Project Kuiper to operate its space segment in Nigeria as part of a global constellation of up to 3,236 satellites.

According to the NCC, the approval aligns with global best practices and reflects Nigeria’s willingness to open its satellite communications market to next-generation broadband providers.

The permit positions Project Kuiper to provide satellite internet services over Nigerian territory and sets the stage for intensified competition with Starlink, currently the most visible Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet provider in the country.

The permit also gives Amazon LEO and BeetleSat-1, the legal certainty to invest in ground infrastructure, local partnerships, and enterprise contracts, while giving Nigeria a wider market opportunity to play in space internet service delivery, where Starlink currently operates.

Amazon’s Kuiper will offer three categories of satellite services in Nigeria: Fixed Satellite Service (FSS), Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), and Earth Stations at Sea (ESAS).

FSS enables broadband connectivity between satellites and fixed ground stations, such as homes, enterprises, telecom base stations, and government facilities. This is the core service behind satellite home internet and enterprise backhaul; MSS, by contrast, is designed for mobility and resilience; and ESIM extends high-speed satellite broadband to moving platforms, including aircraft, ships, trains, and vehicles.

These systems rely on sophisticated antennas that can track satellites in real time while in motion, making them critical for aviation and maritime connectivity as well as logistics and transport sectors.

BeetleSat was founded in Israel, where its groundbreaking antenna technology was developed and supported by the Israel Space Agency.

In 2021, it formed a strategic alliance with the Spanish technology group Arquimea, which is now BeetleSat’s largest shareholder and main industrial partner.