Investments in the Nigerian telecoms sector hit $68billion in July. Of this figure, $35billion came as Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) the former Secretary-General, International Telecommunications Union, ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, has said.
Toure, who was keynote speaker at the Nigerian Telecoms Investment Forum at the just-concluded ITU Telecom World 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, said these successes pointed to the fact that “the country is certainly a preferred destination for telecoms investors in Africa.”
He said the country remained the place to invest because the population is huge,there is political stability and a very dynamic telecoms regulatory regime.
NCC Public Affairs, Director, Tony Ojobo, said the ex-ITU scribe explained that within 15 years when the telecoms sector was liberalised, subscribers have grown from a paltry 400,000 connected lines in 2001, to over 150million connected lines and a teledensity of 107 percent.
“The next growth for voice communication is in quality of service. The new oil in Nigeria is ICT and data transmission is the way to go,”
He was, particularly, excited that while he served ITU Secretary-General, Nigeria occupied the number one position as the fastest-growing telecoms sector for five consecutive years.
Toure told current and potential investors that the NCC has done a very good job with the way it has managed regulatory activities transparently.
He said he is more Nigerian than his native Mali because the country has always led the way. “Nigeria should share its experience with other African countries,” he said.
Present at the forum were Communications Minister, Adebayo Shittu, Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Dambatta, members of the diplomatic corps, chief executives of agencies under the Ministry of Communications and major telecoms companies from Nigeria, Thailand, senators and members of the National Assembly among others.
