For the new year, the Federal Government of Nigeria has planned to invest the sum of 3.4 billion b naira ($9.38 million) in Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigComSat).
According to the budget of the public company, approved for the new year, 76% of the sum, or 2.6
billion naira, will be devoted to operating expenses while the rest, nearly 800 million
de nairas, will be dedicated to investment projects.
According to the budget, of the amount earmarked for investment, N95.4 million will be used for the
creation of zonal marketing offices; N92.4 million will go towards the construction of a
satellite TELEVISION channel with public access; N369.2 million will be used for the revision of
radio frequency and hub infrastructure while N105.2 million will be spent on
level of the NigComSat Satellite Control Centre (SCC).
The investment in the satellite will help boost its capacity to expand its coverage and
thus bring connectivity to a larger part of the national territory. Nigeria has set itself as
target to achieve a broadband Internet penetration rate of 70% over the next five
years. The company plans to work with Internet service providers to achieve this ambition
government.
NigComSat's 2020 budget is significantly lower than the 2019 budget, which was 3.9
billion naira ($10.76 million).