Market determines the face of technology, says Olusola Teniola

There have been various schools of thought on how to fast track the development of broadband in the country, especially how the end users can get quality service from various technologies. In this interview with JUSTUS ADEJUMOH, Mr Olusola Teniola, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Internet Solution, speaks on broadband penetration, the contributions of telecom industry to the economy, among other issues.

Excerpts:

What are the achievements of the Jonathan administration in the area of ICT?

This question is timely, but it is multifaceted. I will start with example of what has been achieved. It is actually the recognition of the bottleneck that exists and has existed. The issue has been raised at different fora. The area cuts across not only in the ICT sector, but also in other sectors, and that is power.

Fundamentally, we need to have stable continuous 24/7 power to be able to run our operations effectively. That was one area that was addressed. We are aware of power reforms that had been attempted by the past administration. Also, there are some initiatives under the former Minister of Communications Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson, whereby there were several interventions made by the ministry to address multiple taxation; rights of way, and creating something like cybercrime bill which encompasses critical national infrastructure (CNI). CNI is deemed as infrastructure similar to electricity whereby they are protected under law or regulation from unwarranted access or vandalism which have been a recurring thing for a long time based on the number of inherent fibre cuts and other forms of destruction.

Those areas we had known for many years were really picked and addressed. They brought about the Smart States Initiatives that raised avenues to enable different states to become part of this digital drive and to enable different governors to take part in creating enabling environment for ICT players.

That enabling environment is what government is about. They are not there to actually compete; they are there to create enabling environment for companies like my own and also companies that have presence in the voice and data arena. Based on this, we have a National Broadband Policy or plan, ICT policy, Open Access Framework which is the creation of NCC. The Open Access Framework has led to Infracos licences being awarded in the North Central of the country and in Lagos State. That is the differentiation that will create the journey to ubiquitous broadband where every citizen enjoys universal access and right to affordable access to the Internet. It is different from universal access for voice where it is put in handsets or where a community has access to telephony within easy reach to be able to communicate to others in the country. These are two different types of projects. The recognition we need is to ensure that there is a level playing field generally in the industry.

I think those areas without going into such a great depth were areas I feel that the previous administration was able to contribute to ICT development in the country.

In Nigeria, there is much emphasis on educational certificates. Meanwhile, the likes of Zuckerberg and Bill Gates who are successful today were school drop-outs. What is your take on this?

Let me say this, there is no one who is successful and did it in isolation. Zuckerberg built on other people’s successes, he did not just come out with something innovative that was unique, and he actually was in competition with Myspace. What created the ‘Zukerbergers’ more in America than in Russia is the environment. He did not complete his university but he is a billionaire now because the environment allowed him leave his university education and focus on his passion.

What do you mean by environment? 

What I mean is when you don’t have an ecosystem that creates tension and the spirit of can’t do. I am a software engineer/developer, but I do more in telecommunication. This is because of the environment I’m operating in. You need an enclosure that utilizes your brain capacity to the limit that is beyond what you can ever imagine if you are outside that institution; which is the ecosystem (that is the environment). Someone who works in the village can’t produce something unique, even for Newton it was in an ecosystem that allowed him.

When people have idea here or in the village who is going to fund it? I say with all due respect, we are in naivety; you can’t expect incubation from the village. Can you go to the bank for fund? Do you have the collateral? In America, they have funders who don’t expect you to have collateral and they are prepared to take the risk. It is usually like this: you are the risk but with an idea but we take a bet on you and we might lose everything; that is the environment there, do you have that environment here?

So, why are we surprised? And by the way, for every success there have been thousands of failures. We only hear of success of the likes of Microsoft and the others. America has a population of three hundred and fifty one million people, and we only notice one person out of the large number. There are many of them because they are in the environment that is the engine of growth and development.

Let me go to India, the government supported ICT, gave grants and gave support to companies that were innovative for their time. So it funded the digital revolution, so the government took risk and it paid off. The government here needs to take risk, support and create enabling environment to allow the black “face bookers” or internet billionaires to take a risk. Just like Dangote took a risk with cement, we need others to take a risk with mind, so they are not worried with things that will disturb them but be in an environment where they will unleash their talents, which would create an African “Zuckerberger”.

There is a projection that N200 billion should be invested in broadband in Nigeria between now and 2019. How do you think we can take the broadband initiative to logical realism and what do you think are the challenges?

 The World Bank has recognised that certain countries need developmental assistance to meet their SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) which are developmental programmes. Those programmes need funding. We need the government in particular. The Ministry of Finance needs to advocate and promote Nigeria’s World Bank funding to achieve developmental programmes that are associated with broadband. There has to be a league, otherwise, it would be viewed as a private return on investment vehicle. What do I mean by that? It means that if you actually want to develop infrastructure programme we need to wake up. Nigeria is deemed as a poor country, but we are not. We are rich. We have enough capacity to fund it ourselves if we have the right structures in place.

I would argue that we still need assistance especially if we want universal access for the un-served and the underserved. Currently, the industry pays for those grants through the USPF funds. But that is insufficient. I heard you mention N200 billion. When you look at the Australian example of building broadband they have spent 60 billion Australian dollars. We have to be careful.  They actually have an incumbent operator which we don’t have. So we should be expending more than them to achieve what we are trying to achieve.

Our ability to achieve what we want to achieve should be our spending. But where is the money coming from. I mean we are talking about billions of dollars and we are struggling with a deficit reserve. I don’t think that is the priority for government now. We need to be able to collectively as stakeholders draw the attention of the possibility of future growth of Nigeria GDP by investment related to broadband growth. That gap is the main focus for government. But if you come closer home some of the expertise of broadband is not usually at the depth of infrastructure. Right now most of the Internet is by the mobile handset. In fact, mobile broadband is the driver or the main type of broadband in Nigeria.

The mobility aspect, the fact that you can access the Internet, whether you can do it at 1.5 megabit per second download as advocated by the national broadband as a minimum speed or you can do it less, it is still about fast access to internet and the customer experience. Most people thought it is going to be done by LTE (Long-Term Evolution), Wifi or other mediums but all these things require access to spectrum. Spectrum is a limited and scarce resource that needs to be managed by the government for access. Even if you have the money, it needs reforms and legislations that allow spectrum to be made available. With the right amount of spectrum and then you take it further with access to a national backbone network that would enable all the traffics that come through the spectrum be gotten at reasonable prices so there is no discrimination of access. That is what the open access framework of the NCC advocacy is trying to create.

You mentioned that NITEL no longer exists, and that NATCOM has taken over, if you don’t have harmonious national backbone network, it is very difficult to not envision that there would be islands of global network at best degree of development at best use of speed in Nigeria. 

How do mean?

There is already several national other networks and each built by private money. So, each investment has taken that network to a degree of capability and sophistication of network coverage determined by private money. It is not public access, those are islands. We need to have harmonious blueprint that would interconnect all of them for instance to check if that one is a better connection.

Unless you allow an investor and guarantee that if they roll out in a certain area they get their return, if no guarantee, they stop at a certain stage. There is a gap, there is the haves and the haves not, those in my area can do and have, those outside can’t.

For internet solution I know you have been in it for about 30 years now, what are your company’s contributions to the telecom sector?

Currently, if you look at what we do, we service enterprise segment of the market space, we run government network, we provide services for government, we provide services for large corporates, we also enable multinational companies come to Nigeria to have an enabling platform which is connectivity.

So our contribution not only in terms of the taxes we pay which is significant, this business is hundred percent Nigerian, I’m a Nigerian, most of my staffers are Nigerians, I create employment. It actually creates opportunity for Nigeria’s technology that has been deployed and run for the period that is stated not only in South Africa, but also in other climes in the case of our parent company. A $7.8 billion worth of R&D that is accessible to us gives us great hope that the future and direct ICT space is within our reach and Nigeria’s because you have a company that will always deploy in a manner that will be profitable and more efficiently at reduced cost. These are some of the drivers that allow us to contribute to the wellbeing of running operation in Nigeria.

How would you access the telecom industry since inception especially since the GSM operators came in?

Let me take the CDN one (Content Delivery Network). The CDN is a technology; and technology will come and go. Every technology does not succeed; that is why Microsoft is the winner, and every other one works around Microsoft. Look at what happened to Visafone. It has being acquired by MTN.

You cannot be surrounded by a sea of technology and expect that you are going to survive. That is the beauty of technology, which is why we move from calculator to devices. That is why you are holding a small camera and not a huge camera, which is technology.

Should the government bailout investors in the telecoms industry?

Are you expecting free lunch? The market determines the face of technology. So it should be. Government intervention would not change that.

On how we developed since 2001, it’s been great. Nigeria should be excited that they can now make calls right on their handsets rather than going to a call centre to make a call. It’s a great plus.

However, if you ask me if we have arrived, the answer is no, we are still on a journey. We have scratched the surface of what can be done, and there are still things to be done. When I rate what we can’t do in terms of technology of telecom, it is 4 out of 10.

We have achieved 7 out of 10 in terms of contribution to Nigerian economy. Going forward, it is so great that I don’t think people can fathom. I look at where we are now and where we will be in 10 years’ time and I smile. In some economy, they have done almost everything. I can’t do anything more because they have done everything, it’s hard, here you look and ask where do I start from? You look around and say I have to do this, do this, huge amount of opportunity and that’s just telecommunication not ICT.

ICT itself needs a process of authorization, process outsourcing, call centre, money mobile, money market, pay system, financial inclusion, I can go on.

Real complex solution delivered in a meaningful manner where we become efficient economy, we have not started and there is issue of security, cybercrime a lot.