Latest figures released by Internet Statistics, a global Internet usage measurement firm, put the number of broadband users in Nigeria at just 500, compared to over 800,000 in South Africa.
Generally, broadband Internet allows a user to get faster download of Internet materials and even watch streaming videos and get very quick access to sites.
The President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association, Ndukwe Kalu, noted that the absence of optic fibre and copper to deliver Internet service in many parts of the country remained a stumbling block to the growth of broadband access, noting that mobile services could not effectively deliver such services.
The same view was shared by the Managing Director, Kemson Concepts Limited, Ben Aduli.
He said the cost of broadband access was high because Nigeria did not have adequate local content on the web, while the country lacked adequate fibre infrastructure and people were mainly accessing content offshore.
He said the situation meant that every time a person was using the Internet, he had to use international traffic.
Experts noted that except Nigeria addressed the two issues, broadband Internet, which is defined by the International Telecommunications Union as access at speeds of 256kilobits per seconds, would continue to elude the country.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission used 200 kbit/s in its definition until 19 March 2008, after which it was scaled up to require a minimum of 768 kbit/s to be defined as broadband. Kalu noted that there was hardly any Nigerian firm that met this standard, even though some of them were advertising that they offered broadband services.
However, the Managing Director, PMM Ventures, Ejiofor Agada, differed on the notion of non-availability of equipment as a reason for low penetration.
According to him, while there is still inadequate infrastructure, many people are oblivious of what broadband Internet can do and as such, do not make demand for the service. He noted that a lot of users today feel adequate with the stable Internet speeds, where they simply just access their mails and get on with their lives.
He said that when benchmarked against a country like South Africa, where there were now well over one million broadband users at a minimum speed of 512, then Nigeria could not even be classified as offering broadband services.
Broadband is now an economic indicator used to measure development among countries.
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