Emma Okonji examines the impact of telecoms on the Nigerian economy and Nigerians, in relation to communications and financial transactions carried out on the mobile phones since the rollout of Glo…
Emma Okonji examines the impact of telecoms on the Nigerian economy and Nigerians, in relation to communications and financial transactions carried out on the mobile phones since the rollout of Global System for Mobile Communications in 2001
The rollout of GSM services in 2001, eventually discarded the old belief that telecommunication was meant for only the affluent in the society. But as time went on, cost of telecoms services continued to drop, and today the cost of SIM card is N100, which is as good as free, since each SIM card comes with some value of airtime.
But the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the figure had gone beyond $70 billion in 2020, given the continuous growth rate of telecoms operations in the country. The statistics showed that in 2012, telecoms contribution to GDP was 7.7 per cent and in 2013, the contribution dropped slightly to 7.4 per cent, but it picked up again in 2014, contributing 7.6 per cent to GDP. In 2015, telecoms contribution to GDP further increased to 8.5 per cent and it had another increase in 2016, contributing 9.13 per cent. In 2017, it contributed 8.7 per cent to GDP and in 2018, telecoms contribution to GDP grew to 9.9 per cent.
“The Strategic Vision Plan 2 will leverage on the National Broadband Plan, the National Digital Economic Policy , and the International Telecommunications Union Vision Plan to drive telecoms activities in the next five years, and contribute more to the country’s GDP. These are policy documents expected to drive the sector, and NCC will come up with implementable plans to drive them,” Danbatta said.
The second National Broadband Plan seeks to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria at a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90 per cent of the population and penetration rate of 70 per cent by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data.
In spite of the drawback, broadband penetration has picked up again and it is expected to be sustained through the right policy implementation.
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