25% Rural Dwellers Lack Access To Telecommunications- Google

Despite the tremendous leap that Nigeria has made in telecommunications in the past 12 years, 25 per cent of rural dwellers in the country lack access to modern communications facilities, a new report commissioned by Google and released in Abuja on Monday has stated.

The report titled: 'Impact of the Internet in Africa,' presented the result of studies on the impact of the Internet in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal conducted by Dalberg.

At the presentation ceremony, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the Federal Government planned five-fold increase in broadband penetration in the next five years.

According to the report, although Nigeria has strong international bandwidth, weak domestic coverage and last-mile connectivity suggest a relatively low performance in infrastructure rollout.

It also noted that Internet adoption by the government was low despite the creation of a wholly-owned company, Galaxy Backbone, providing it with ICT services and backbone.

Only 46 per cent of ministries, departments and agencies had active websites; the national government itself lacked a website, the report said.