![[JUST IN] Mohbad: Police declare Primeboy wanted](https://newspeakspaces.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/04152516/image-75x75.png)
>
By Emmanuel Adeleke
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has officially disclosed that the investment profile in the nation’s telecommunications sector, comprising foreign direct investment (FDI) and local investment, has reached $75.6 billion as of 2021.
Danbatta disclosed this in Lagos on Wednesday,at an interactive session with stakeholders in the communications media ecosystem, where he provided his scorecards and landmark developments that have shaped the trajectory of growth in the telecoms sector since he became the chief telecoms regulator in August 2015.
According to him, in 2018, investment profile in the sector stood at $68 billion. This increased to $70.5 billion in 2019 and $72 billion in 2020. At the end of 2021, the figure rose to $75.6 billion. The latest figure is the current official investment profile computed in the industry up from the initial $70 billion investment in the last few years.
“Investment in the telecommunications sector in Nigeria is computed from two sources: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the financial data obtained from service providers by the commission.
“While the CBN collects and calculates an element of the telecoms sector to include FDI, portfolio and others, the commission collects investment figures from telecoms licensees described as domestic investment arising from capital expenditure (CAPEX) which form part of the total investment in the industry,” he said.
Danbatta said through effective regulatory environment put in place by the commission, the telecoms sector has recorded tremendous growth from an initial investment profile of $500 million as of 2001, when the sector was fully liberalised.
He also stressed that the telecoms sector has continued to be a major contributor to Nigeria’s economy through an impressive sectoral contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) quarterly, up from about 8.5 per cent in third quarter of 2015.
Citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Danbatta said the telecoms sector contributed N10.126 trillion as an aggregate quarterly contribution to GDP in 2022.
“In the first quarter, the sector contributed 12.94 per cent, equivalent to N2.246 trillion while the second quarter witnessed an all-time high GDP contribution by the telecoms sector to the nation’s economy, standing at 15 per cent and valued at N2.593 trillion. The sector’s contribution to GDP in the third was 12.85 per cent and in the fourth quarter, it grew to 13.55 per cent, which are valued at N2.436 trillion and N2.851 trillion respectively.
“The growth trajectory continued this year as telecommunications and information services sector in Nigeria delivered a handsome N2. 508 trillion in terms of financial value contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), representing 14.13% in the first quarter 2023,”he added.
According to the EVC, the sector has become a major enabler of economic development in Nigeria, as it continues to positively impact all the facets of the Nigerian economy.
“As the regulatory authority for the telecoms sector in Nigeria, we are happy that the sector has recorded phenomenal growth statistics in the past two decades of the liberalisation of the telecoms sector. However, we will not rest on our oars. We will continue to push upward to greater heights by encouraging expansion of frontiers to put Nigeria’s imprint on the global map of digital economy,” he said.
In addition to the growth in investment and GDP contribution, Danbatta said: “As of May, 2023 active voice subscriptions reached 221.3 million, equivalent of 115.91 per cent teledensity, while Internet subscriptions rose to 159.6 million.”
The broadband subscriptions on Third Generation (3G) and Fourth Generation (4G) networks increased to 92.2 million, representing a 48.28 per cent broadband penetration in the country, Danbatta said.
He assured of the commission’s commitment to always give concrete expression to the Federal Government’s Executive Order 001, focused on ease of doing business and other digital economy-oriented policies, by embarking on various regulatory initiatives that support a friendly investment climate for investors in Nigeria and enhance value for money for telecoms consumers.
The EVC particularly commended the media as a strategic partner and enabler of growth in the telecoms sector “through accurate, adequate and timely reporting of all regulatory activities of the commission.”
