FCT Minister reduces Right of Way charges for telecos by 90%

• FCT Minister reduces Right of Way charges for telecos by 90%
• What are green areas?
• Harmonised RoW charges

Mohammed Bello, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has declared that telecommunications companies will only be required to pay N14.50 as Right of Way (RoW) fees in order to install broadband infrastructure in green spaces.

Bello announced that the new discounted prices would take effect from December 1, 2022, and run for the next two years. He made this announcement in Abuja at the official launch of a few initiatives sponsored by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that had been approved by the Federal Executive Council.

Bello claimed that the FCT’s green spaces lacked any type of telecommunications equipment. He stated:

“As a part of our contribution to broadband communication, from December 1, 2022, for the next two years, the FCT will charge only N14.50 per linear data for all telecommunications companies that want to deploy broadband in the FCT in green areas. Green areas are areas where we have not already established the infrastructure on the ground.”

Broadband infrastructure has been negatively impacted by the Right of Way charge’s wide disparities in charges among the states.

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In order to harmonize the Right of Way costs for investments in broadband infrastructure, the Federal Government of Nigeria established a policy in 2017. This led to the conclusion of a harmonized RoW Charge Agreement with each of the 36 governors of the federation, including the FCT.

Prior to the harmonisation, telecom operators paid a range of amounts, from N4,000 to N8,000 per metre, in different regions of the nation. Such exorbitant and arbitrary fees were thought to discourage investment in the industry.

After the harmonisation, telecom companies must spend N145 per metre to lay fiber optic cable throughout the nation.

The FCT minister’s N14.50 cost for green spaces represents a 90% discount from the usual N145 per meter fees.
In his remarks, Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, pledged to work tirelessly to increase internet speed and lower costs in Nigeria in accordance with the National Broadband Plan 2020–2025.

He claimed that 18 universities throughout the nation’s six geopolitical zones would be receiving internet infrastructure projects worth over N16 billion from the federal government.

The term “right of way charge” refers to a tax that telecom companies pay to state governments in exchange for permission to dig up roads and install telecom equipment, such as fiber optic cables that transmit internet traffic.