The executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has said the telecommunications sector contributed over $70 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last one year.
He stated this in his remarks at the just concluded 2018 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World Conference held in South Africa.
According to him, the sector has consistently contributed an average of $5 billion to the GDP in half-year 2018, thereby marking a considerable increase since 2017 when it contributed $70 billion, saying the contributions by the sector to the GDP had increased by 10.5 percent, up from 9.1 percent in 2016.
The NCC boss, however, pointed out that more needed to be done to take advantage of the opportunities that abound in the sector despite the tremendous success recorded over the years.
According to him, the NCC is already working to this effect by putting measures in place to incentivize infrastructure companies (InfraCos) to speedily deploy “infrastructure that will deepen broadband penetration” and encourage greater investment in the sector.
He said:
“This is part of the roadmap to take Nigeria to the next level under the Open Access Model template. So far, six InfraCo licenses have been issued to cover Lagos, North East, North West, South South, South West and South East zones of the country. Arrangements are underway to re-license the North Central zone.”
Over the past decade, the telecoms sector has grown to become a major component of the Nigerian economy. It has made life easier for most Nigerians, created new frontiers in the economy, and ensured that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians are directly and indirectly employed.
Asides the value and revenue generated by the telecoms sector, it has also been fraught with many controversies thereby requiring intensive regulatory oversight.
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