ICT
From The Report: Nigeria 2019
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Nigeria’s ICT sector has faced several challenging years, with rapid currency depreciation and a macroeconomic slowdown weighing on profitability. However the sector remains a critical non-oil growth driver and major contributor to the economy, supported by a sizeable young population and the rapid adoption of mobile internet services. Dominated by four large mobile operators, the telecoms industry remains on a steady growth trajectory, as rising smartphone penetration and investment in mobile internet networks supports a shift towards data-driven growth models. In the IT sector government efforts to boost broadband penetration have begun to gather steam, although the country will face a number of challenges in achieving its ambitious mid-term expansion targets owing to issues in deploying new fibre-optic infrastructure. This chapter contains an interview with Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-chairman and CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Paving the way: Reforms, listings and infrastructure to support mobile growth
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Although it has faced several challenging years, with rapid currency depreciation and a macroeconomic slowdown weighing on profitability, Nigeria’s ICT sector remains a critical non-oil growth driver and major contributor to the economy, supported by a sizeable young population and the rapid adoption of mobile internet services. Dominated by four large mobile operators, the telecoms industry remains on a steady growth trajectory, as rising smartphone penetration and investment in mobile…

Interview

Broadening networks: Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-chairman and CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on boosting connectivity
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Interview:Umar Danbatta How will open-access, fibre-optic infrastructure lead to increased connectivity? UMAR DANBATTA: The current open-access model is designed to fill in gaps in broadband infrastructure. The commission has licensed infrastructure companies with a mandate to provide every local government area (LGA) with at least one 10-Gbps access point within a four-year period. All 774 LGAs will have fibre-optic connectivity by 2022, which will help boost broadband penetration. It is…

Analysis

Closing the digital divide: Steady progress in broadband expansion, despite challenges
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Nigeria’s IT sector holds considerable potential to support both macroeconomic and non-oil growth, supported by a large population of almost 200m citizens, high levels of mobile penetration, and rapid uptake of mobile internet services. Long-term development strategies have highlighted high-speed broadband internet access as an important economic growth driver, and the government has moved to make considerable investments in a national fibre-optic backbone, setting the near-term target…

Analysis

Local push: Efforts to support the domestic start-up scene
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In an effort to boost non-oil growth and job creation, the government of Nigeria rolled out a new three-year ICT development agenda emphasising domestic industry and local content. The new policy is expected to reduce high levels of ICT imports, with rapid currency depreciation offering the country a new opportunity to foster domestic ICT industries and reduce IT imports. Local talent development will also be a critical component of future ICT development. The country’s huge population…