1. University Inter Campus Connectivity (UnICC) Project
Presented at the NUC ICT Stakeholders Meeting
June 2013
Presented by:
Abdullahi Maikano
Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund

2. Content Introduction to USPF
What is UnICC and How does it fit in with NgRen
UnICC Phase I
UnICC Phase II
Deliverables of UnICC Project
Conclusion

3. The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF)…
About the USPF The Universal Service Provision Fund (“USPF”) was established through the National Telecommunication Policy (NTP 2000) & Nigerian Communications Act 2003 to promote the widespread availability and usage of network services and application services throughout Nigeria: Through facilitating the installation of network facilities and ICT applications to communities and gpoups in un-served, underserved areas or for underserved groups and institutions within the community. The USPF started its operation in 2006, under the mandate of the NTP 2000 & NCA 2003,. The NCA Act provided for the setting up the Universal Service Provision Secretariat (USPS) to be in charge of the day to day operations of the Fund and the constitution of an eleven (11) member Board to guide its operations;

4. …about USPF continued The USP Board is made of :
Minister of Communication Technology - Chairman
Chairman of NCC - Vice Chairman
Executive Vice Chairman NCC - Member
Executive Commissioner NCC - Member
Representative of National Planning Commission - Member
Representative of Ministry of Finance - Member
Representative of Ministry of Communication Technology - Member
Four (4) Representatives of Private Sector – Members

5. Mandate of the Fund
Facilitate the provision of access to ICT services within a reasonable distance to all persons in Nigeria
Facilitate provision of infrastructural development to rural and underserved areas in a non-discriminatory manner
Promote technological innovation in ICT services delivery
Promote competition in ICT services delivery
Support the establishment efficient, self-sustaining, market-oriented businesses, which will continue to expand access to ICTs on their own initiative, requiring the minimum amounts of short- and long-term Fund support possible
Use ICT to promote greater social equity and inclusion for all the people of Nigeria

6. Some of the programmes & projects implemented over the last 5 years are as follows
The first Board of the Fund was inaugurated in 2006;
The Board and Management of the Fund developed a 5-year strategic plan, SMP to guide its operations
The Schools Access Project (SAP)
The Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion (AMPE) Programme (BTS, CIP, etc)
Tertiary Institutions Access Project (TIAP)
Rural Broadband Initiative (RUBI)
Backbone Transmission Infrastructure Project (BTRAIN)
E-Library
etc

7. TIAP Project targets Universities and Tertiary institutions
Over the last 5 years the USPF provided ICT tools and applications to vertially all the exsisting universites ( including 11new Universitesi)
and some other tertiary insttutions accross the country.
The following ICT tools were provided at each university:
100 Desktop computers
100 UPS
Bandwidth Connectivity
Laptops
ICT accessories and peripherals
etc
Over 204 Universities and other Tertiary Institutions have benefitted from this project, including virtually all the existing (old) Federal Universities.

8. Guiding principle…
Following experation of the 5 year strategic plan and Impact assessment of the operations of the fund was conducted:
The following issues were identified as some of the challenges of most of the programs and projects:
sustainability
one-size-fits-all approach
lack of stakeholder participation , especially in project conception;
inadequate awareness
etc
Following the above the new Board and Management of the USPF developed a new 5 year Strategic Management Plan SMP taking he challenges identified above into consideration

9. SMP
USPF SMP

10. Going Forward
Going forward and in line with the guiding principles of the new SMP all future interventions to institutions must be directed to areas of critical infrastructural needs and this must be done in consultation with the beneficiaries to ensure sustainability.
It is in line with this principles that the USPS, working in collaboration with the NUC dsigned and developed a project called UnICC to meet the connectivity needs of universities and other institutions within the university eco-system.

11. What is UnICC and How does it fit in with NgREN
UniCC seek to seamlessly connect sellected Main Campuses of universites with their corresponding medical colleges and Teaching Hospitals through the deployment of optic fiber cable in order to complement the NgREN project being implemented by the NUC
Figure 1
Main campus/

12. UnICC Phase I UniCC Phase 1:
Deployment of Optic Fiber Cables between Seventeen (17) selected Universities and their corresponding Medical Colleges/Teaching Hospitals
with the objectives of:
Seamlessly connect the Universities and their Medical Colleges to achieve bi-directional communication for the purpose of sharing and accessing information.
Provide a platform for sharing bandwidth resources and creating a reverse path for backup in the event of downtime.
Provide the requisite link for voice, data, video and other multimedia services (including conference facilities).

13. UnICC Phase II
This will provide the end user devices required to ensure optimum utilization of the inks in the sellected institutions.
Devices, applications and services to be provided to include:
Video conferencing equipments for tele-presence
ICT based Interactive Smart Classrooms
Data centers
Provision of MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) supported LANs
IP based telephony systems
trainning and other support services
etc
Data gathering is being carried out along with NUC.
Re-validation of the data and assessment of existing infrastructure been concluded in University of Jos, University of Abuja and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. Visits to the remaing 8 Universities to e undertaken soon.

14. Fiber Optic Cable linking both locations
It is also expected that the UnICC project/ NgREN will serve as a backbone for delivery of other projects such as e-health etc
Figure 2
Fiber Optic Cable linking both locations
Teaching Hospital
Medical College
Equipped with:
Tele-medicine facility
Tele-conference
IP Telephony
SMART classroom
Video conferencing facility
E-Learning
The UnICC project will become a backbone to building e-health across the country
UnICC
Tele-surgery
Community Hospital
E-training
Remote Diagnostic
Main campus/

15. Conclusion
This projected will be extended to other universities and other institutions both federal and state until all universities, teaching hospitals, medical colleges and research institutions in the country are seamlessly connected to the NgREN network The board and management of USPF will continue to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to ensure that Nigerians benefits from the immense opportunities that the ICT offers

16. Thank you! Q & A