The Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, has been commended for managing the irregularities in the Telecommunication industry transparently.
The NCC has also revealed that Investments in telecoms in the country have risen to $68b and $35b of the amount, realised from Foreign Direct Investments, FDIs.
Despite the economic realities being experience in the country, investments in the fast growing telecommunications sector have flourished both from within and outside the country, NCC has said.
The appraisal was made by the immediate past Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, who was the keynote speaker at the Nigerian Telecommunication Forum at the just concluded ITU Telecom World 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was quoted by the Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Tony Ojobo, as describing Nigeria as a preferred destination for telecommunication business in Africa for the industry to have realised such figure.
Toure said in the event that had the presence of Communications Minister, Barr. Adebayo Shittu, Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Executive Vice Chairman, EVC, of NCC, Prof. Umar G. Danbatta, and other dignitaries, that Nigeria is the place to invest because the population is large, and there is political stability with a very robust telecommunications regulatory regime.
He explained that within 15 years when Nigeria opened its telecoms sector to the global community, investments have grown in leaps and from a paltry 400,000 connected lines in 2001, the country now has over 150m connected lines and a teledensity of 107 percent, adding that ‘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.’’
According to Ojodo, Toure was particularly excited that while he served as Secretary General of ITU, 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 and by the fact that law makers from Nigeria were also part of the audience he spoke to at the venue, underscored the importance Nigeria attaches to this sector.
He said he is more Nigerian than his native Mali because Nigeria has always led the way, adding ‘Nigeria should share its experience with other African countries’.
Also speaking at the event was the Communications Minister, Barr. Adebayo Shittu, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, assured existing and potential investors of Government support and protection at all times.
He added that since Nigeria was now navigating from resource based to knowledge based economy, “we want to encourage you (the investors) to renew your confidence in our country.”
“Feel free to come to Nigeria and if visa is an issue let us know. Our doors are open and the ease of doing business in Nigeria is being improved upon.”
Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who served as panelist at the forum alongside Prof. Danbatta, EVC of NCC, Funke Opeke of MainOne Cable, Ibrahim Dikko of Etisalat said technology as an enabler has helped Kaduna State to reduce land fraud and tax payments are now done online thus reducing incidents of leakages.
El-Rufai, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory told the audience that Kaduna will soon launch Smart Kaduna initiative and has contacted a major Smart phone manufacturer to introduce pocket-friendly smart phones to Kaduna to boost the smart Kaduna Initiative.
Also, NCC boss, Danbatta told the audience that the regulator has begun digital transformation through the National Broadband Plan (NBP 2013 – 2018).
He explained that since broadband is the catalyst for social and economic transformation, “we have come to let the global community know that investments are welcome in this area”. He said, the target is 30 per cent by 2018 according to the NBP 2013 – 2018.
Danbatta added that Although Nigeria has hit 21 percent so far, investments will be needed for 3G, 4G and to take services to underserved and unserved regions of Nigeria, “and we need to deploy infrastructure to those areas that have no services, we understand that and the strategy to address them hence we came out with the 8-point agenda to address this.”
Danbatta told the audience that Nigeria has a very flexible regulatory environment and “we are fare, firm and forthright in our activities.”
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