Communication
Nigeria sets up Local Content Regulator for the telecoms industry
By Joseph BAMIDELE
LAGOS – The Federal Government has moved to replicate the successful implementation of the Nigerian Content policy in the oil and gas industry in other key sectors of the economy with the setting up of the Office of National Content (ONC) in the Ministry of Communications Technology.
The ONC will operate as a programme of the National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA) an agency in the Ministry of Communications Technology and work closely with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) so as to leverage on the successes, lessons, guidelines and templates conceived and implemented successfully by the Board in the oil and gas industry.
Inaugurating the AdvisoryBoard for the Office of National Content in ICT in Lagos on Monday, the Minister of Communications Technology,Mrs. Omobola Johnson stated that “with the aggressive growth in the Nigerian ICT industry, contributing 8.53 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product by the third quarter of 2013, it was obvious that the industry was a key growth industry and as such deserves the design and execution of a well thought out local content policy.”
She noted that the country currently had the image of a continuing compulsive consumer of ICT products from other parts of the world and this needed to be addressed.
Citing examples with personal computers, she said Nigerians preferred foreign brands,with HP and Dell accounting for 60 per cent of approximately 750,000 pcs sold in Nigeria in 2012 while indigenous original equipment manufacturers accounted for about 20 per cent of this number.
This scenario is compounded by the perception that existing local ICT hardware manufacturers produce poor quality, expensive and uncompetitive products.
But rather than worry about the challenges, the Minister described themas significant opportunities for the ICT Local Content Policy.
According to her, “we have crafted into our guidelines defined steps for our OEMs to recapitalize significantly so as to enable them provide significantly improved after-sales support, warranty support and customer service.
“We have also encouraged the OEMs to collaborate in providing these back office and front office support mechanisms so that economics of scale can be achieved and more jobs created.”
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Engr. Ernest Nwapa lauded the Minister of Communication Technology for setting up the ONC in the ICT sector, describing it as an affirmation of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s firm belief in the contribution of local content to the growth of the national economy.
He noted that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke had directed the NCDMB to stimulate the participation of other sectors of the economy sectors like power, construction and agriculturein the Nigerian Content implementation.
He also credited Madueke for the capacities that had been developed in Nigerian Content Act, whichcan be leveraged by other sectors so that maximum benefits can be derived for the economy.
Nwapa expressed confidence that the ONC will help unlock the enormous potentials inherent in the local ICT sector, create thousands of jobswithin the sector and position Nigerian ICT companies to provide services and equipment to government,the oil and gas and other key sectors of the economy.
He promised that the Board would work closely with ONC to ensure that it took off successfully and avoid the pitfalls it experienced at the start of the Nigerian Content policy in the oil and gas sector.
The Executive Secretary noted that the Board’s recently launched a linkage programme with key agencies of government aimed to institutionalize a platform for information exchange on ways and means of harnessing the resources of individual agencies towards developing local content and support Federal Government’s drive for employment generation, in-country value addition and overall economic transformation.
He said, “We observed from feedback that unless we expand the basket and adopt local content guidelines in other sectors of the economy, the nation will not get the optimum benefits.”
In a significant market projection, Mordor Intelligence predicts that the Nigerian telecom sector is set to surge to a value of $11.43 billion by 2029.
The report anticipates a steady growth trajectory with a cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of 4.70% between 2024 and 2029, based on the current market value of $9.09 billion.
The transformation of Nigeria’s telecom landscape, fueled by government initiatives to boost internet infrastructure and broadband connectivity, coupled with rising data consumption, 5G deployments, and innovative strategies from major telecom players, is expected to drive this substantial market expansion.
The report underscores additional factors propelling the growth of Nigeria’s telecom sector, emphasizing the surge in smartphone adoption.
the report said “Increased smartphone adoption in Nigeria has fueled the development of a dynamic digital services sector. Currently, millions of Nigerians use mobile apps, including social networking sites, e-commerce, and financial services.
“These apps could leverage smartphones’ capabilities to offer speed, convenience, and efficiency, encouraging more people to invest in smartphones.
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
Mordor Intelligence highlights that the flourishing e-commerce and digital service platforms in Nigeria are significant drivers behind the escalating demand for dependable telecom services in the country.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted MTN’s request to partially disconnect Globacom (Glo) from its network owing to unsettled interconnect charges.
Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, disclosed this in a document named ‘Pre-Disconnection Notice’ on Monday.
The move follows Glo’s persistent failure to clear its outstanding debts despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue.
Under this partial disconnection, Globacom subscribers will solely receive calls from MTN users, while retaining access to other network services like outgoing calls to other networks and data services.
However, they won’t be able to initiate calls to MTN users during this period.
The statement read, “All subscribers are, therefore requested to take notice that the Commission has approved the Partial Disconnection of Globacom to MTN in accordance with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators, 2012.
“At the expiration of 10 days from January 8, 2024, subscribers of Globacom will no longer be able to make calls to MTN but will be able to receive calls.
“The Partial Disconnection, however, will allow in-bound calls to the Globacom network,” it added
Nigerian telecommunication users, along with others within the country, expended a total of N3.33 trillion on various telecom services such as calls, data, SMS, and more throughout 2022, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This information comes from the recently published ‘2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report’ by the NCC, which also revealed that telecom companies generated N3.33 trillion in overall revenue for that year.
The report further highlights a noteworthy growth of active voice subscriptions, rising from 195,463,898 subscriptions in 2021 to 222,571,568 by December 2022, marking a 13.86% year-on-year increase.
Commenting on the increase, it said, “The increase in the Operators’ subscriber base was attributed to a number of reasons which includes subscriber loyalty, promos, seasonal effects, aggressive consumer acquisition drive, and competitive product offerings across all the networks.”
It noted that the growth in active subscriptions impacted positively on other derived telecom indicators such as teledensity, Internet penetration as well as broadband penetration.
Data usage also continued its surge in 2022. It increased by 46.77 per cent to 518,381.78TB as of the end of the year.
The NCC stated, “There was an increase in the volume of data consumed at the year-end December 2022 when compared with the year-end December 2021.
“The total volume of data consumed by subscribers increased to 518,381.78TB as of December 2022 from 353,118.89TB as of December 2021. This represents an increase of 46.77 per cent in data consumption within the period.”
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