Admin l Friday, August 28, 2020
LAGOS, Nigeria – The Nigerian Telecommunications sector contributed a total of 14. 30 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria in the second quarter of 2020.
This is based on the latest statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. The figure released by NBS translates to N2.272 trillion, up from N1.821 trillion in the first quarter, representing a robust and steady growth in the sector despite the Coronavirus pandemic. The telecoms sector contributed 10.88 to Nigeria’s GDP in Q1.
Major stakeholders in the industry have attributed the current growth to regulatory framework and competence of the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
Chairman Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, ATCON , Mr. Gbenga Adebayo attributed the rapid growth to factors including the investor-friendly policy and regulatory environment championed by the leadership of NCC, the commitment of all stakeholders, consistent investment in network maintenance and expansion, and sacrifice by sector operators.
Addressing the development, President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS) Adeolu Ogunbajo attributed the growth to the proactive regulatory approach of Danbatta, stressing that his competence has contributed in making telecoms “the oxygen that keeps economic activities afloat during the lockdowns”, and that consumers are appreciative of the fact that the Commission, working with its supervising Ministry, did not allow the consumer to suffer serious disruption to quality of service and quality of experience.
Speaking at the first Virtual Telecom Consumer Parliament,(V-TCP), Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta listed critical regulatory actions that have been taken by the Commission to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of service (QoS) delivery by the networks to telecom consumers.
Citing an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) report, the EVC said with the pandemic, some telecom operators and platforms are reporting demand spike, especially in data usage and volume of calls, as high as 800 per cent since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Regardless of this, Danbatta said the Commission and the mobile network operators needed to play their roles in sustaining quality of service delivery and quality of experience by the consumers, who are critical stakeholders in the telecoms sector.
Danbatta said the NCC, in conjunction with the supervising Ministry developed e-platforms to handle all requests from the licensees to ensure that regulatory services are provided to sustain service delivery to subscribers.
He said the Commission also approved and encouraged resource sharing among network operators and secured Right of Passage (RoP) for all telecommunications companies and suppliers for easy movement during the lockdown. These measures, he said enabled the operators to service their base stations and ensured seamless services for telecom consumers who increasingly relied on the networks during the pandemic.
Danbatta further stated that the NCC, working with the ministry is resolving the problem of high cost of Right of Way (RoW) with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), adding that, through such engagements, the state governors have lent their support for a robust broadband infrastructure.
“The Commission is hopeful that with the reduction in RoW, which will automatically result in reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX) by the network operators, telecom companies will sooner than later reciprocate the gesture by making their services more affordable to Nigerians,” he said.
According to Danbatta, regulatory efforts have also resulted in a Presidential approval directing Security Agencies to protect Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and telecom facilities as critical national assets. He said this has helped to safeguard telecom infrastructure for the greater role telecom has to play with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
Danbatta also charged service providers to constantly upgrade and expand their network capacity in order to deliver top-notch QoS to their consumers.
Earlier in a presentation, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Barrister Adeleke Adewolu showed the various Quality of Service (QoS) indicators for the second quarter of the year across the networks and how the consumer Quality of Experience compared with the parameters based on the voice of the consumer survey (VoxPop) conducted by the Commission.
ECSM highlighted the challenges facing operators, which impact negatively on quality of service to include fibre cuts, vandalism and theft of telecommunications site equipment.
