IT & Telecoms
From The Report: Nigeria 2012
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Transforming Nigeria into a knowledge-based economy is the central goal of the government’s policy on ICT. Mobile use is the main means of access, with around 92m users, and numbers could grow significantly as other devices become available. While there are a number of opportunities to develop the Nigerian IT sector, the field is not without some challenges, including those arising from the lack of connected terrestrial infrastructure. These could be solved, however, thanks to significant investments being made in satellite technology and by telecoms operators in fibre-optic networks and base stations. Significant investments by all operators in their terrestrial infrastructure should bring about better coverage and quality of service, but these firms still face challenges in terms of power costs and security issues.

This chapter contains an interview with Ernest Ndukwe, Chairman, Openmedia Group, and Director, Centre for Infrastructure, Policy, Regulation and Advancement, Lagos Business School.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Improving access: The federal government focuses on extending broadband
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Transforming Nigeria into a knowledge-based economy is the centre of the government’s policy on information and communications technology (ICT). There is much optimism about the sector’s ability to drive socioeconomic change in the country and growth across economic sectors, but how to achieve this and where to direct the state’s efforts and revenues has been the focus of much debate over the past few years. IMPETUS: The current impetus for the nationwide expansion of broadband internet…

Analysis

A new direction: Draft policy will lay out the technology sector’s future
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The future structure of information and communications technology (ICT) in Nigeria is taking shape. Following national elections in 2011, a new minister, Omobola Johnson was selected to lead the Ministry of Communications Technology (MCT), the main government body overseeing the sector. The emergence of a draft national policy on ICT in the wake of the elections has also been seen as a positive step, bringing clarity and direction to a rapidly changing sector. BROAD GOALS: The draft plan speaks…

Analysis

Reaching for the clouds: Capacity upgrades are paving the way for development in new areas
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The expansion of Nigeria’s international fibre-optic capacity is easing long-standing constraints on high-speed internet connectivity, which in turn is attracting the attention of global cloud computing service providers eager to gain a foothold in one of Africa’s most promising markets. Disaster recovery services, remote back-ups and the provision of software-as-a-service (SAAS) all have potential in this market. Banks and telecoms operators are often the key early adopters of private…

Interview

OBG talks to Ernest Ndukwe, Chairman, Openmedia Group, and Director, Centre for Infrastructure, Policy, Regulation and Advancement, Lagos Business School
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Interview: Ernest Ndukwe What is the likelihood of unbundling fibre networks in the short to medium term? ERNEST NDUKWE: The focus in Nigeria is on how to best ensure that the dominant operators with extensive fibre optic infrastructure make their networks available to rival operators to deploy broadband in competition with them. Once it has been established that capacities exist to accommodate other operators, unbundling the fibre networks should be considered. However, it will require careful…

Analysis

Applied theory: Developing the nation’s local mobile content
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Even a small fraction of a dynamic market of some 101.8m SIM cards, according to May 2012 data from the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), can lead to large scale profits. Thus while smartphones account for a mere 5% of the market – over 5m users – intense competition for a share of the mobile app segment is spreading to Nigeria and users’ appetite for app downloads appears substantial. However, while the penetration of global apps matches that of smartphones in the market, the…

Overview

Moving up: Additional investments in infrastructure are needed to take the sector to the next level
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With a large population that avidly seeks out the latest technologies and a mobile market that now has close to 100m active subscribers, the telecoms sector has had little difficulty attracting foreign interest and investment. The mobile segment, which remains the sector’s main driver for growth, has four GSM operators, the majority of which are internationally owned. In the major cities of Lagos and Abuja, competition among operators for retaining or attracting subscribers is now fierce. EXTENDING…

Analysis

Nuts and bolts: Expanding and upgrading the networks
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Telecoms equipment and infrastructure suppliers are in high demand across the country. Having attracted international firms from India, the UAE and South Africa to invest in GSM licences, the state is encouraging Chinese and other international firms to invest in Nigeria in an attempt to address the current shortfall in terrestrial telecoms infrastructure. BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE: At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March 2012 Eugene Juwah, the executive vice-chairman of the Nigerian…