Telecommunication Base Stations
The cost of internet services is gradually dropping and will continue due to increased competition and rising demandIn recent past, cost of Internet access used to be very exorbitant with very few Nigerians having the luxury. Most people that earlier saw the need for internet, either surf the internet in their offices or go to business centres or Cybercafé, which then was a lucrative business. Consequent upon this business centres sprang up on virtually all streets in major cities.
Today, the trend is changing as Cybercafé are now losing patronage, as a result of the continuos drop in the price of bandwidth, a situation that had empowered many Nigerians to have access to the Internet in a more affordable manner.
The emergence of smartphones and the further drop in the cost of mobile internet, saw many Nigerians having access to the internet via their mobile phones, which of course increased internet penetration in Nigeria.
Before the smartphone era, the few Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country were buying internet bandwidth at $4,000 per megabyte per month and in order to maximise profit, they offered internet services at exorbitant prices.
They equally devised a means of offering Internet services through the shared bandwidth, whereby they served several users on a single bandwidth. This slows down speed especially when all the users happen to log on the internet almost at the same time.
The ISPs were also offering Internet services through another means called the dedicated bandwidth, but only to those that could pay higher for services. With dedicated bandwidth, users are assigned to multiple bandwidth and do not share bandwidth with other users and this made the speed of their internet relatively fast, compared to those on shared bandwidth.
But those challenges have since fizzled out, as more Nigerians get access to the Internet at a more affordable rate with the cost dropping by the day due to several factors including competition, market forces, and rising demand.
With the introduction of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology and the licensing of more ISPs by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the price trend is expected go south.
Competition
However, one major force driving down cost of a Internet service is competition. In the past few months we have seen product rollout by the ISPs to contend for market share. The likes of Spectranet, Swift and Smile have been bullish lately.
New Products/packages
Just last week, Spectranet launched a new family package called 'Pay Lite Download Heavy' designed to further reduce the cost of access for its internet subscribers.
Speaking at the recent launch of the solution, Chief Operating Officer at Spectranet, Mr. Atul Ojha said the product was another 4G LTE solution that would address family needs in having fast internet access at relatively affordable rates.
The solution could be accessed through a Single user dongle, known as LTE Freedom; Multi-user hub, known as the LTE Surf N Talk; Portable multi-user MIFI, known as LTE Lifestyle; and through Fixed outdoor unit, known as LTE Outdoor.
According to Ojha, "The solution comes in different bundles that are relatively cheap for family use. The various bundles are the Night Bundle, the 24/7 Bundle, the Business Bundle and the Top Up Bundle plans.
For example, the Business Bundle plan goes for N45,000 for 120 Gigabyte at 30 days validity and at a speed of up to 2 Mbps.
Giving reasons for the low pricing with high speed and quality, Ojha said Spectranet decided to drop price in order to offer customers lower pricing for the same high quality services rendered, in order to meet the demands of customers, and to provide data plans that are readily available and affordable.
The whole essence is to increase accessibility and the number of internet users in the country, Ojha said. He called on existing customers and would-be customers, to quickly take advantage of the opportunity to have faster and easy access to the internet.
Smile Nigeria, another broadband internet service provider has also joined other internet service providers to further deepen internet penetration in the country at a much more reduced cost.
Launched in Lagos two months ago, Smile Communication is a 4G LTE mobile network with operations in Lagos and Ibadan and further plans to cover Abuja and Port Harcourt this year.
Speaking at the Lagos launch, its Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Tom Allen said: "The 4G LTE broadband solution is the latest and most advanced global technology standard for wireless data communications, and represents a major paradigm shift from the older 3G and 3.5G technologies."
"Our goal is to provide Nigerian broadband internet users with speed, quality, reliability and simplicity. Our vision of becoming the broadband internet provider of choice in Nigeria, has guided us in everything, from selecting our people and partners to choosing the best technologies and creating innovative and relevant products and services.
We are confident and excited being in Nigeria and we are ready to share the promise of digital citizenship with millions of Nigerians," he said.
Describing the experience of the network, Allen said: "The Smile network experience is faster and better than anything customers were used to in the past.
It provides live television streaming without delay, high- definition YouTube videos load without buffering, sites are available almost instantly and downloads happen in a blink of an eye, and it comes relatively cheap."
Among other innovations, the network is designed for 'plug and play' allowing Smile network to change demand patterns by installing fully operational base stations that will avoid loss of speed, quality and reliability that are associated with overloaded base stations on traditional networks.
Expansion and capacity building
In acquiring Direct On PC in June last year, Managing Director of Swift Networks, Mr. Charles Anudu said the acquisition was meant to expand the network capacity of Swift Network, in order to serve its customers better with high speed internet service at reduced cost.
“The ultimate beneficiaries will be our current, future and DOPC’s erstwhile customers who will now be served by a network with a larger coverage and exceptional focus on customer relationships. We will continue to invest in new technologies and processes that deliver values that make sense to them,” Anudu said.
The services provided will cover a broad spectrum of user needs aimed at meeting any business or lifestyle requirement for very fast and consistently reliable broadband speed, he added.
True to his word, SWIFT Networks, this year, launched its portable, nomadic and personal wireless hotspot modem tagged ‘The Nomad’ in continuance of its 4G LTE technology which has tripled its capacity and speed.
According to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of SWIFT Networks Limited, Mr. Chuma Okoye, the new portable, nomadic and personal wireless hotspot modem is designed to offer existing and potential SWIFT 4G LTE customers the convenience to take their high speed SWIFT 4G LTE broadband connectivity on the go, as they move around the city because the nomad fits perfectly in a pocket, briefcase, handbag or in the car.
Emphasising the key benefits of the new modem to customers, Okoye stated that the ‘Nomad’ provides portable fast and reliable broadband speeds at reduced cost, while also allowing for multiple users and multiple devices connectivity of up to 10 users or devices either on the go or different locations within SWIFT coverage area.
The ‘Nomad’ comes in two variants; one with up to 6 hours of battery life, while the other provides up to 10 hours battery life. As such, once fully charged, customers can continue to enjoy 4G LTE services from “The Nomad” for up to 10 hours without being tethered to mains power. Each of these variants is also rechargeable on the go, using the cigarette lighter plug adapter in a car.
GSM Operators as ISPs
The new wave in the data communication industry, where GSM operators that were originally known for core voice telephony, decided to diversify their businesses to cover data communications, has equally helped in driving internet penetration and bringing down cost of internet access in the country.
GSM operators like MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Globacom, including the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators like Visafone, now offer internet service, through their data platforms, thus making the market attractive, more competitive and also driving down cost of internet.
They all have their dongles that enable personal access to the internet, even while on the move. This further brought down the cost of internet and increased its penetration level across the country.
The latest in internet service offerings from GSM and CDMA operators, is the pocket router device that is portable to carry about. It comes with high speed internet service delivery and further reduction in the cost of internet service, thus making internet more accessible and at reduced rate for the average Nigerian.
As competition gets hotter among the GSM operators, so is the market force further driving down the cost of internet access across networks.
Effect of Submarine Cables on Internet Access
Several factors, as earlier identified in this piece, were responsible for the continuous drop in the cost of internet access, but paramount among those factors, are the several submarine cables that landed the shores of the country from Europe.
Operators like Glo 1, MainOne, MTN WACS, and the SAT 3, were able to berth long distant submarine cables at the shores of the country, thus increasing broadband capacities in the country, even though only cities close to the sea shores like Lagos and Ibadan, are benefitting from the sea cables, in terms of reduced cost, due to proximity.
With the landing of submarine cables at the shores of the country, bandwidth that used to be sold for about $4,000 per megabyte per month, now sells for around $500 per megabyte per month. This, no doubt, contributed immensely to the continuos drop in the cost of internet access in Nigeria.
Having identified several factors that have contributed to the continuous drop in the cost of internet access in the country, it would be ideal, if government begin to plan how best it would carry the broadband capacities at the shores of the country, to the hinterlands for effective last-mile connectivity on internet access.