Bitflux set to unleash robust last mile for other services across Nigeria- Omoniyi

Biodun Omoniyi is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer VDT Communication and doubles as a Director Bitflux, which acquire a licence to roll out LTE services to Nigerians. He spoke with Tony Nwakaegho on the state of the company’s operation and what Nigerian consumers will benefit as it prepares to launch . Excerpts:

The LTE licence was issued to your company, Bitflux over a year now and Nigerian expected you to roll out your services on the network. What is the cause of the delay?

I  actually will say that Bitflux services has started since last year and we enlisted two partners in Lagos Island but now the service is being expanded to Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Ikeja is being implemented now. In a nutshell, I will say Bitflux is ready. If you know about the LTE, the critical component there is the core. The core is ready and all you need to do is to be adding access loads unto it. The Bitflux model itself is such that they work through partners and now knowing full well the partnership that Bitflux and VDT alliance actually has, VDT on its own has more than 46 offices nationwide, and present in all 36 States Capital of the Federation. So Bitflux is going to start by connecting the enterprises, the last mile and you that apart from broadband, last mile mandate is another mandate that has been given to Bitflux. When you mentioned LTE we talk about the retail side of the business and that is also what I earlier talked about in Lagos Island, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Ikeja. But all over Nigeria the last mile services is also ready. So there is obviously going to be some news items that you will be seeing next week concerning what you call launch.

Who are those partners and what role will they be playing?

The partners essentially are Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Larger Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Medium size ISPs, and even the Smaller ISPs are also welcomed. In the retail, while we are trying out, we have a number that are already listed. We have people that have already started with VDT, now we have Cobranet, O’net in Ibadan which has actually signified interest starting the second round of services as retailers.

Is your company operating with a national licence?

Yes, we have a national licence.

What is your roadmap of spreading nationwide?

I just told you that we have 46 offices that are fully equipped nationwide, and of course VDT and Bitflux you cannot really separate them, because VDT is a promoter of Bitflux, so Bitflux itself is going to ride on VDT presence in those cities. That is why I said that nationally any last mile provisioning can  just be taken even if you want it in Kano today  it can be taken, but we need  to actually follow a process of unbonding those partners. We are already talking to some of the MNOs that have last mile challenges because the backup frequency was what many people were using for last mile and that actually being outlawed by NCC now. So Bitflux is actually there now to play its role to be able to unleash robust last mile for other services across the nation. So it is now just Ibadan as I have just told you about one retail partner that also getting unbounded is O’Net in Ibadan. Those are for the consumers, but the service is actually ready nationwide.

Within the industry the voice service is on the decline in term of profitability among other things. What will be the percentage of your company’s concentration for data and voice services?

There is a dichotomy between voice and data and it is actually very blurred now. But where we come to play is that we had always being IP company, so the promoters of these business have been well rooted in IP, so when we talk about broadband  we really cannot do away with IP knowledge and then you talk about data. We are more of a broadband company so the issue of voice if you like today as  virtually everybody use whatsapp voice and  other services. So when you have rich data you will remember that Bitflux is promoting LTE speed data. We have suffered enough in this country what people are calling data are actually narrow band data. So what Bitflux is actually bringing is real broadband data. Data will actually give you voice, so I will not talk what percentage, you  apply that  whichever way you like, you could use it as voice  once you have data in your phone or in your pocket you can continue to talk unending.

It took you so long to launch after you procure your licence even though the NCC regulation stipulates one year to launch. Was it due to funding or rollout obligations that took you so long?

It is true that it took us a bit of a long time, but essentially what is worth doing is worth doing well. Looking to who we are and how we have come, we are actually an indigenous company and you also know that at one time that the environment is actually very tough and harsh. I do not think today that they will say anything different. The investment climate especially for people that actually make their money in naira ought to get government support but we are not actually getting those supports for indigenous companies. And we don’t earn dollar anywhere, and you all know that these equipment needs to be brought in from foreign countries, so where are we suppose to get money to procure all those equipment within the harsh environment that we are now? That actually contributed to some of the delay that we experienced when we saw the issue that going on in the foreign exchange market. You don’t get allocation and we have made necessary applications to the right quarters about what caused our delay here and there. We signed contract a while ago but we needed to fund it, to fund it using IFEX. It is not about the naira unavailability, the naira has always been available, that actually constituted the delay. We were actually trying to do good planning and we also ran into a storm of scarcity of Forex.

How will Bitflux contribute to meet the national broadband target of 2015-2018?

It is good that there are targets, but we also need to ask what is  government actually doing to actualize that target. It is not just about I will punish you, if you do this or do that. For indigenous companies there is a lot of support that other countries actually give their operators especially if they are indigenous, like we do not earn dollar anywhere, but make our money in Nigeria before we convert it. So what we need  is  a waiver that will allow us to access Forex  so that we can actually convert the naira  that we have easily and be able to actually use it to make ease. That is one support that will actually actualise that 2018.  If this situation continues you will know that there are mile stones to that 2018 because that 2018 will not just come because in the national broadband plan itself there are supports that the government promised. Have you seen those supports being on the ground; there are supposed to be some infrastructural roles that will work hand in hand with this broadband plans are those things on the ground? These are things we actually need to put into context before we talk about that actualization. Yes we are here in 2016, and if we continue to have this challenge then there may have to be some shifts. I am convinced that there may be some shifts about that 30%. We still have about one and half years more and I want to believe maybe government can still come out and support the telecoms industry, especially the indigenous telecoms industry.

Less than two weeks ago your vendor came out to say that it is rolling out a whole sale data LTE network for Bitflux. How do you react to this?

That is why I also said that we are launching. So service is available, we are on air, the call has been installed and inspected by NCC and we have also gone on and we are actually commercializing and we have our price list with NCC already. So we are really ready for service, so if that vendor has announced, they haven’t told any lie.

What is the next  step being taken by Bitflux now ?

There is going to be some announcement coming from the Bitflux stable about what we have done so far because God have been so kind, we have just completed some round of fund raising. Coming to what you said whether there are funds, but I wouldn’t call it a constraint because there are stages  for raising funds for telecoms business so we have just completed the first round and we want to put a close to that and then allow service availability so that our customers can come on to the network.

What is your company planning to doing differently in the midst of competition?

The truth is that you may say there is competition, but its big market too. There are a lot of potentials and in the competition, everybody can actually have their own pie and there is a way that you can have differentiation. Don’t forget that we have adequate bandwidth spectrum and what that does is that we can roll out services that would be speedier than every other person’s offering. So we are going to put the bandwidth that we have into good use, at least in today’s market it’s actually the largest that is available to operators for broadband service.

How do you hope to achieve your target to the last mile?

Last mile is a form of service offering, It is not just about the bandwidth, there is business to be made. When you actually do last mile with people doing last mile businesses you will remember that VDT started providing last mile services before it became a broadband organisation. There is still the need for last mile as everybody knows that we have much internet bandwidth capacity at the shore landing in Lagos. I am sure you heard people say the problem is the last mile. Bitflux is there to actually bridge that gap of last mile provisioning. So that is what we are going to do. It is not just about mandate but also about the business exigencies. There is business and there is opportunity to get this done and we are really ready for that.

Who would surmount the challenges such as the right of way and multiple taxation?

What we are doing is now wireless, so Bitflux is doing wireless, so right of way is not a major hindrance. Of course  we also know the importance of laying fibre inter BTS, inter station, and intermodal  connection using  fibre to do it. Definitely that is still a bit of a challenge, but there complimentary services that are supposed to come, for instance the Infracos services that are supposed to come. They are not here, but just like I mentioned there are a number of impediments to making sure we meet the national broadband plan. All the same we have paid money, we are a commercial organization and we just need to find and move round any obstacle to be able to offer our businesses.