₦airaland Forum

Wimmaxer really has a good grasp of the Broadband market in Nigeria and im impressed.

I have the following questions and clarifications?

1. Does suburban have license for 3.5Ghz for Abuja? I am aware they were interested in buying over a company that has the License for many states!

2. There will eventually be many broadband providers in Nigeria which will make internet affordable and pervsive to the man on the streets. That is the beauty of competition. I know that startech and suburban plan to use Alvarion in Abuja while another 3.5Ghz operator in lagos is also using Alvarion. Alvarion has tested solutions in africa but they have severall shortcomings which i understand will be addressed by mid-next year when their mobile wimax products will be available.

3. Sure, DOPC is yet to start providing Wimax services on licensed frequencies. But very very soon, it will start and will become more available.

4. the GSM operators are all planning to roll-out WIMAX services too.Likewise some of the recently licensed Unified License Operators.

4. I totally agree that WIMAX is one of the best technology for revolutionalising communications in Nigeria, especially for residential internet users. This is an opportunity that is springing up because of NITEL's lack of vision which resulted in non-availability of fibre/copper network all over Nigeria.

5. i have been studying Wimax since 2002 and right now, it is going to spread like wild-fire in Nigeria in the coming months. It will become available nationwide and the competition will enable most Nigerians have cheap internet services at home!!

This a a very interesting topic but im lost!

Are you a venture capitalist looking for Investment opportunities that will change people's lives in Nigeria?

If yes, then you need to look more at the Communications, Power, Education and Solid Minerals Sector.

I have worked on several investment opportunities in this sector but where are the funds?

For instance, market research reports from leading International researchers have revealed that to bridge the digital divide in Nigeria-which will lead to great economic empowerment of the people- the internet penetration in the country must be greatly increased.

Taking this issue up, myself and a group of young Nigerians had formed a company and over the last 4 years studied which technologies can bring cheap internet services to all Nigerians, especially the man on the street. We have acquired licenses and spectrum for this and planning for a nationwide rol-out especially to unreached and underserved markets. Of course, this is for a profit but the underlying principle is puting smile on the lips of Nigerians. This will open up economic activities and improve communication between Nigerians in towns and villages and in diaspora thereby opeing up their economic activities to the whole world. not only that, young people will become empowered by acquring IT skills and exporting them to the world.

Now i can go on and on and on about the economic impact of each of these projects(just gave hint on 1 of them above). However, where are the funds? We hear that there are funds for Emerging Markets bu apart from the established GSM operators, which novel projects have been invested in?

The power sector is the next boom to happen with 10 licenses been issued some days from now. The mining sector where we have hundreds of thousands of artisans supporting millions of people is also about to explode. But where are the funds?

Nigerians have outstanding creative abillities and attractive entreprenurial skills. formal and informal. But no sound government policy or financial backing that will enable them explore and release these abilities!!

so if you have funds for developmental commercial projects, lots abound in Nigeria. With me alone, i can expound on 10!

There are several business models and technical considerations for setting up ISP In Nigeria.
Based on my experience in this field, i will advise as follows:

a. The Location matters a great deal. I assume you intend to set-up a wireless service. If its dial-up, forget it becaus ethe company will die in less than 6 months!

b. For wireless service, you need to operate in either a licensed or unlicensed frequency. If you intend to operate on unlicensed frequencies, you can only operaate hotspots, legally. The regulatory framework does not allow the use of unlicensed frequency for wide are networks, not more than 200meters.

c. To operate any ISP in Nigeria, you will need to get an ISP License.Usually takes 3-4 months and costs roughly $4,000.

d. If you want to operate on the licensed frequency, price depends on the state you want to operate in and the bandwidth required(in MHz). You can get information on these from www.ncc.gov.ng

e. On pricing, the rave is about =N=45,000 for equipments/set-up and monthly fee of =N=15,000 for unlimited access.

f. You can get a good Network Administrator for a monthly fee of $500!!
I hope this answers your question.
Lets i forget, wimax is coming to Nigeria soon!!!

This is a great idea. Do you only have softphones?How about USB Phones or hardware that one can connect directly to a broadband connection so i can move everywhere with it?