$70bn Spent On Telecoms Infrastructure, NCC Laments

Over $70billion have been invested in telecommunications infrastructure deployment in Nigeria since the liberalisation of the industry in 2001.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, who made this known, said the amount represented a larger chunk of local and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attracted into the sector within the period.
Danbatta made the remarks, yesterday while delivering the Bullion Lecture 2021 Edition organised by the Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ), Lagos.
According to him, the investment in infrastructures has boosted the economy and provided more opportunities for more Nigerians have access to telecoms services.
“Today, the number of active telephone lines being used by Nigerians has significantly increased from about 400,000 in 2001 to over 204 million as of December 2020”, he added.
The EVC, who spoke on the topic: Driving persuasive Broadband Penetration to Deepen Digital Financial Inclusion for Nigeria’s Socio-economic Transformation, listed several steps taken by NCC in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and other critical stakeholders to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria, saying that 73.2million adults representing 41.6 per cent of adults population in a country of 190million citizens are still financially excluded.
He noted that the development and other statistics raised concerns about addressing poverty and inequality issues especially in relation to opportunities available for women.
He further said the Commission had over the years taken measures to confront several challenges, asserting that when he assumed office, broadband penetration was about 10 per cent, stating that as at December 2020 it has peaked at 45.02 per cent.
“Closely linked with this, is the effort of the Commission in ensuring that all Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards in the country are properly registered.
“As pointed earlier, as of December, 2020, there were over 204million active mobile SIM numbers across licensed mobile networks in the country. To this end, the NCC ensures regular audit of the subscriber database of the MNOs to ensure there are no anonymous mobile subscriber on their networks.”