Development and Deployment of Fixed Wireless Access in South West Nigeria: Performance and Evaluation

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the deployment and performance of Fixed Wireless Access in Southwestern Nigeria, analyzing operator and user perspectives, and comparing FWA with GSM to inform future broadband development.

Contribution

It provides an empirical assessment of FWA deployment factors and user preferences in Nigeria's urban region, using statistical analysis to identify key influencing parameters.

Findings

FWA deployment is influenced by setup costs, infrastructure, and government incentives.

Users prioritize quality of service, signal strength, and call rates over other factors.

GSM is preferred over FWA for mobile communication in the region.

Abstract

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) involves the use of wireless technology to replace copper to connect subscribers to the telephone network. It is a variant of wireless broadband which provides an alternative in the so-called 'last mile' connectivity between the subscriber and the fixed telecommunications network. FWA could either be narrowband or broadband and it is predominantly deployed using the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology. In assessing the extent of development and deployment of FWA, the perspective of the operators and users was elicited primarily through the use of questionnaires. Issues like setup cost, tax, Government incentive, availability of infrastructure and manpower applied to the operators while on the users' part factors like quality of service, signal strength as well as call rate were considered. The South western zone of Nigeria is regarded as one of the most urbanized regions in the south of Sahara, this is not out of place considering the fact that Lagos which is the nation's commercial nerve centre and a mega-city is located within this region. The scope of this research covered this very lively part of the country. The relationship between the parameters or variables considered was established using an appropriate statistical method: The Regression analysis. In terms of users' preference, Global System of Mobile communication (GSM) was compared with FWA. Results were interpreted and suitable conclusions were drawn to wrap up a quite revealing work.