With a teledensity of 109.99 percent, the total number of active mobile users reached 210 million in August 2022, up from 208.6 million in July. Internet customers also surpassed 152.2 million, with broadband penetration at 44.65%.
Prof Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communication Commission, who was represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Efosa Idehen, made the announcement on Tuesday during the NCC Day at the 17th Abuja International Trade Fair.
According to Danbatta, the competitiveness of Nigeria’s SMEs in this new environment was dependent on their capacity to utilize new technologies by obtaining the essential digital skills to do business on an international scale.
He said the steady growth in the telecoms sector over the years with its persuasive positive impact on all other sectors of the economy in terms of increased automation of processes and digital transformation in service delivery had been remarkable.
To sustain this, he said, “the NCC continues to create a conducive environment that stimulates deployment of robust telecoms/broadband infrastructure for improving the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for telecoms consumers, be it individuals or corporates. This is because, as a country, we need robust telecoms infrastructure that will help our SMEs to transit to becoming Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven if we hope to be digitally competitive on the global stage.”
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He said the commission was working assiduously with various stakeholders to see how more businesses would embrace digital platforms for delivering their services to the consumer.
“Indeed, digitalization of the SME sector of the Nigerian economy is strongly connected to telecommunications, giving the power the telecom sector has to positively disrupt traditional business models. This explains why the growing demand for connectivity is pressuring telecom companies to upgrade their telecommunications infrastructure. As a result, network transformation has become far more imperative for innovative businesses, allowing them to address changing customer expectations.”
Danbatta noted that the NCC was driving initiatives for the full launch of the 5G network in Nigeria, noting that spectrum licenses for the companies that would roll out the service had been issued.
In addition, the deployment will begin in the state capital and gradually spread to other states, he said, noting that the 5G network would bring significant network improvements to Nigerian communications services, such as higher connection speed, mobility, and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities.
Speaking at the event, Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Efosa Idehen, represented by Deputy Director Consumer Affairs Bureau NCC, Mistura Aruna, stated that the commission, as a regulator of the Nigerian telecommunications sector, ensured service availability, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability for all categories of consumers who were leveraging ICT/Telecoms to drive personal business.
Idehen said the theme of the trade fair, “Creating an Export Ready Market through SME Digitization” could not have been made a better time, noting that it coincided with the time the Federal Government approved the deployment of the 5G technology.
