Telecom

GSM Service Nine Years After

Published

16 years ago

August 23, 2010

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Some 9 years ago Nigerians were looking forward to the dawn of a new era in view of the license granted to three operators then to render services at the 900MHz frequency spectrum with Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications technology.
This month of August marks Nine years since the country began the liberalization of telecommunications industry through adoption of this technology as a means of providing Nigerians communications tools.
The Nigerian telecommunications industry since then has experience significant growth, following the successful takeoff of the digital mobile telephone services, using GSM technology, from less than 500,000 active fixed telephone lines provided by Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (Nitel) and very few Private Telephone Operators (PTOs) as at mid 2001, to a population of over 120 million, the total number of connected fixed and mobile telephone lines increased to about 76 million both active and inactive lines early this year.
However the entrance of the GSM technology brought about such a revolutionary transformation that millions of Nigerians with no access to telecommunications now clutch mobile phones in their hands. It is common sight to see traders, fish sellers, hawkers, motorcycle riders among others using mobile phones. The staggering number of subscribers on three major GSM networks of MTN, Globacom, Zain and Etisalat as Nigeria celebrates nine years of operations of this technology, is a testimony to the hunger of Nigerians for communications.
It is clear that Nigeria cannot celebrate the growth recorded in the communications sphere without acknowledging the contributions of Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, immediate past executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Ndukwe has over the years emerged as the face of GSM in Nigeria through his transparent handling of the regulatory affairs of the telecoms sector.
Since February of 2001 when he supervise the auctioning of GSM license in the country, he conducted the affairs of the regulatory functions of the commission in such a way that other countries in Africa now come to Nigeria to understudy the regulatory processes that has seen the sector emerge as the largest and fastest growing in Africa and the 3rd fastest growth in the world.
Several research firms across the globe have commended the Nigerian government and Ndukwe, as one of the most sought-after telecom resource persons in the industry in Africa for an effective transparent and foreign investment attracting regimes in the continent. In spite of the challenges in the quality service characterized by drop calls, Ndukwe’s startling qualities as a regulator of note is still intact.
However, NCC had taken several measures to tackle the issues of quality service. One of the ways the NCC has shown that it was serious in tackling issues of quality of service was in the area of enforcing its regulatory powers to stop operators from further promos that has been a major cause of network congestion witnessed few years ago. By that action, the NCC sent a massage that no operator is above the law and that they must conform to measures that will save the sector from further deterioration due to their poor service delivery. The commission had also procured equipment that enables it monitor congestion and service quality of the various networks in the country, and therefore periodically publishes network performance of operators.
It also ensured that operators paid their subscribe compensation for poor quality of service experience on the network.
Benefits
In the last nine years, since the GSM revolution started in the country, a lot of benefits have been enjoyed by the Nigerian subscriber who was hitherto at the mercy of the almost nonexistent but epileptic service rendered by the Nigerian Telecommunications (Nitel). Since then, the monopoly of non effective service rendered by Nitel has been broken and communication across regions enhanced by GSM thus encouraging the socio economic growth of the nation. It is an indubitable fact that effective communication is crucial and cannot be overemphasized in the socio economic development of a nation. With a teledensity presently below 65% and a subscriber base of 76 million as at the end of April, one could say that a feat has been achieved by the GSM revolution in connecting Nigerians to a critical service given the fact that before the advent of GSM, teledesity was less than 4% and only about five hundred thousand Nigerians had access to telephony service in a nation of over a hundred million people.
Then having a telephone was a class issue and only the rich could afford the luxury and the muscle to withstand the stress of Nitel technicians who used to hold subscribers to ransom at every little opportunity. Then it was common sight to see the technicians asking for ladder, cables and all sorts to fix a line anytime a problem arises, it was indeed a nightmare. One could easily recall the stress of keeping vigil at the office of Nitel in a bid to make calls and be confronted with the common problem of no tone come back tomorrow and so on. But thanks to president Obasanjo and the coming of GSM all that is now history.
The GSM revolution has indeed contributed over 80 percent of $18 billion foreign direct investment. It has also stimulated local investment and increased job opportunities. It is common scene in urban areas as well as rural areas where there is coverage for young men and women sitting under an umbrella provided for them by GSM operators making calls for people at a token. This umbrella call centre initiative is today providing food to greater percentage of unemployed Nigerians, aside this are others who are trading in recharge cards and other products of GSM operators.
The benefit of GSM technology is enormous and still increasing as it gets expanded, we may not easily forget that Nigerians are now turning to GSM engineers, and there are young countrymen and women who eke out their living through repair of mobile handsets.
The popular Otigba computer village is no longer computer village in its sense as the sales of mobile handset has almost taken over business at the market.
The revolution has also indirectly stimulated development and vibrancy of some sectors of the economy, such sectors are leveraging on the technology deployed by GSM operators to provide services to their customers.
A case in point is the banking sector which gives customers the opportunity to monitor and carry out transactions on the move through their mobile phones. Automated teller machines (ATM) deployed by banks are working with the help of GSM General package radio service (GPRS) deployed by operators.
There has been an increased turnover for advertising and marketing communication services basically because of the GSM operators that use the channel often times to reach their subscribers during campaign for more subscribers.
Challenges
In spite of the benefits, Nigerians are enjoying from the advert of GSM technology, the operators are not finding it a world of roses in rendering services. The much talked about poor quality of services is a function of weak infrastructure base; operators have been powering their equipment with generators which are not the case in most environments. This is attributed to inefficient public power system.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations revealed that the four major operators in this space, MTN, Glomobile, Zain and Etisalat are powering their over 22,000 base transceiver stations with 44,000 generators. They are also providing security for their equipment which has not deterred unscrupulous Nigerians from stealing these generators and diesel. Operators are losing an average of two generators daily and over a million litres of diesel to theft. This is indeed a huge lost to bear by operators.
There is also the problem of area boys. One of the operators has had to shut down one of its sites in Lagos due to incessant demand of huge settlement by area boys. In the Niger Delta area, one of the operators reported that over 30 of its sites have become inaccessible due to activities of militant youths, who have refused them to refuel or maintain the sites except they parted with huge sum of money. It is unfair on the GSM operators, who unlike the oil companies are not taking any natural resources but are building telecommunications infrastructure around the country.
Operators are also faced with multiple taxation imposed on their equipment by different tiers of government, Abuja Capital Development Authority had sometime imposed N3 million annual fee on each base station in the metropolis. More so Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigerian (Alton), the umbrella body of the telecom operators, are in count with Lagos State government over the later imposition of N500,000 fee per base station in the state.
However, events in the recent past suggest that other federal government agencies as well as states are now making effort to usurp NCC’s function in the telecommunications industry which is unknown to the country’s law.
It has become a common practice for any government agency be it federal or state to solicits for one levy or the other from operators while some seek that operators secure approval from them which comes with a fee before they can build infrastructure.
The regulatory body also needs to ensure that competition is enshrined in all market segments of the sector as well as maintain favorable regulatory and investment climate, required for the protection of customers. This is necessary in view of anti competitive behavior of some GSM operators.
The next phase of telecommunications growth will come from expanding coverage to the rural areas. With a 60 percent of the country being covered with Telecommunication services, it is obvious that a huge gap needs to be tapped and already the focus for now by stakeholders and investors is on the rural communities.
Foreign investors are showing enthusiasm to come to Nigeria and do business mostly as a result of the fact that in spite of the infrastructural problems posed by lack of power, roads among others, Nigeria has a high return on investments rate. It is a fertile ground for any investor to recoup their investments in the short possible time; this is because of its population. The country has witnessed higher investments in the urban areas with lower investments in the rural areas by telecom operators. In other to bridge this gap, telecommunications and internet services need to deployed services to the rural areas which will solve the problem of rural to urban drift.
The NCC under Dr. Eugene Juwah, should not relent in its efforts of playing its regulatory functions in an effective manner. Nigeria has a lot to gain and cannot afford to lose sight of the fact that an effective regulatory environment has to a large extent helped in steering the ship of the nation’s telecoms revolution.
As Nigeria celebrates this nine year of Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), subscribers await the introduction of number portability which is believed will in no small measure help to address the quality of service issues.
NCC needs to be commended for rising up to the challenges of regulation, especially with SIM registration, call centre initiative, consumer parliament and its current effort at ensuring that physically challenged group in the society are fairly treated by operators.

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Telecom

FCCPC Denies Banning Airtime Borrowing, Blames Cartel for Misinformation

Published

5 hours ago

April 18, 2026

Ebere Melum-Nwogbo

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Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has dismissed widespread claims that it banned airtime borrowing and data advance services in Nigeria, describing the reports as false and driven by vested interests seeking to mislead the public.

FCCPC Denies Banning Airtime Borrowing, Blames Cartel for Misinformation

In a statement issued on Friday, the commission said it neither cancelled nor prohibited such services, contrary to viral social media posts and some media reports suggesting otherwise.

The clarification follows a wave of public concern triggered by viral social media posts and some media reports suggesting that the Commission had shut down telecom-based credit services widely used by millions of Nigerians.

Recall that in separate notices, Airtel and MTN Nigeria announced the temporary suspension of their airtime and data credit services, which previously allowed eligible prepaid customers to borrow airtime or data and repay on their next recharge.

But FCCPC, said no such directive was issued, stressing that consumers remain free to access lawful telecom value-added services.

Ondaje Ijagwu, director of Corporate Affairs, FCCPC, said that “The attention of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has been drawn to a series of newspaper publications and a viral anonymous post on social media seeking to create the impression that the Commission cancelled, shut down, or banned airtime borrowing and data advance services in Nigeria. Those claims are incorrect.

“The Commission has not prohibited airtime borrowing or data advance services, and no directive was issued preventing consumers from accessing lawful telecom value-added services,” the statement partly read.

Rather than a regulatory ban, the FCCPC attributed recent disruptions in some of these services to the failure of certain operators to comply with its Consumer Lending Regulations introduced in July 2025.

According to the Commission, the regulations were developed following a surge in consumer complaints over exploitative practices in the digital lending and advance-services space.

“Following a deluge of consumer complaints bordering on opaque charges, unexplained deductions, aggressive recovery practices, poor disclosure standards, and inadequate accountability in segments of the digital lending and advance-services market, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission issued the DEON Consumer Lending Regulations in July 2025.

“The Regulations were introduced, among other reasons, to curb the excesses of abusive service providers whose practices had generated persistent consumer harm and undermined confidence in the market,” it stated.

The agency said the framework was designed to sanitise the market and protect consumers by enforcing transparency, accountability, and fair competition.

“The primary aim is to promote a fairer and more transparent system by mandating proper registration, responsible lending conduct, clear disclosure of fees and terms, accessible consumer complaint channels, data protection safeguards, stronger accountability for third-party partners, and effective regulatory oversight,” the FCCPC explained.

Providing a deeper insight into the telecom sector, the Commission revealed that some operators had been engaged in anti-competitive practices, including exclusionary arrangements with third-party service providers.

“In the telecom sector, our findings indicated that some operators engaged in exclusionary third-party technical arrangements in clear disobedience to the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018. The Regulations sought to unlock the market to allow local participants alongside foreign partners, in line with free market principles,” it said.

It added that the new regulations were also intended to open up the market to more participants, including local players, in line with free market principles.

Despite giving operators ample time to comply, the FCCPC said several companies failed to align with the new regulatory framework.

Telecom

Airtel Nigeria Suspends Airtime and Data Credit Services

Published

6 hours ago

April 18, 2026

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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Airtel Nigeria has announced the temporary suspension of its airtime and data credit services. The affected services allowed eligible prepaid customers to borrow airtime or data and repay on their next recharge.

However, the company noted that customers will continue to enjoy uninterrupted access to airtime and data purchases through its existing channels.

Airtel Nigeria also indicated that the temporary suspension is not expected to have a material impact on its service standards across the country.

Commenting on the development, Airtel Nigeria Director of Marketing Ismail Adeshina, said:

“This is a necessary and responsible step as we align our operations with evolving requirements. Airtel Nigeria remains committed to the highest standards of compliance, transparency, and consumer protection, while continuing to innovate responsibly within Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.”

The company added that it will provide updates on the status of the service in due course.

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Telecom

NITDA Urges Youths to Build Nigeria’s AI Future Now

Published

6 hours ago

April 18, 2026

Ugo Onwuaso

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National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has urged young Nigerians to take the lead in developing home-grown artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to address the country’s socio-economic challenges.

NITDA Urges Youths to Build Nigeria’s AI Future Now

The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, represented by Mrs. Udoka Mannie of the Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department, delivered the keynote address at the Artificial Intelligence Hackathon organised by the Agency in partnership with VibeCode Africa in Abuja.

Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of NITDA, made the call at an Artificial Intelligence Hackathon organised by the agency in partnership with VibeCode Africa in Abuja.

Inuwa, who was represented by the Acting Director of Digital Literacy and Capacity Building, Dr Ahmed Tambuwal, and delivered through Mrs Udoka Mannie, said Nigeria’s youthful population presents a significant opportunity for innovation and digital transformation.

He noted that with over 60 per cent of Nigerians under the age of 25, the country is well positioned to benefit from emerging technologies such as AI.

“As you can see, this room is filled with young people. This represents a powerful opportunity for innovation and digital skills development,” he said.

Inuwa stated that the hackathon provided a strategic platform for participants from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and develop practical AI-driven solutions tailored to Nigeria’s realities.

He observed that artificial intelligence is already transforming economies, governance systems and societies globally, stressing that Nigeria must decide whether to shape the technology for national development or remain a passive consumer.

According to him, NITDA’s mandate is to regulate and develop information technology in Nigeria while ensuring it serves as a driver of economic growth.

He explained that the agency’s Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department is focused on building a digitally skilled population capable of competing in the global digital economy.

The Director-General highlighted the Digital Literacy for All initiative (DL4ALL) as a flagship programme aimed at equipping millions of Nigerians with essential digital skills, in line with the Federal Government’s target of achieving 95 per cent digital literacy by 2030.

“Beyond literacy, we are now moving into capability. It is one thing to use technology, but another thing entirely to build with it. Today, we are challenging you to build,” he said.

Inuwa urged participants to prioritise impact-driven innovation, identifying sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, financial inclusion, public service delivery and misinformation as areas where AI can drive meaningful change.

He also stressed the importance of ethics, inclusion and data protection in the development of AI solutions.

“As we explore AI, we must be mindful of ethics, data protection and inclusion. Building responsibly is just as important as building brilliantly,” he said.

Inuwa commended VibeCode Africa for partnering with NITDA, describing such collaborations as vital for scaling innovation across the country.

He encouraged participants to collaborate, experiment and innovate, adding that Nigeria’s AI future would be driven by local talent.

“The future of AI in Nigeria will not be imported. It will be built by people like you in rooms like this,” he said.

In her remarks, the founder of VibeCode Africa, Lola Adey, urged participants to harness AI to solve real-life challenges within their communities.

Adey said the hackathon was designed to move beyond theory by encouraging participants to identify problems they personally experience and develop practical solutions.

“We want you to dig deep into yourselves. What are the problems you are facing? What are the issues you notice when you walk around?” she said.

She cited challenges such as electricity shortages, insecurity and gaps in social services as areas where innovation could make a difference.

Adey added that the initiative aims to create opportunities for entrepreneurship, employment and global exposure for young Nigerians.

“With artificial intelligence, you now have something in your hand that you can use to actually solve problems. You don’t have to wait for anybody anymore,” she said.

She urged participants to remain focused, collaborative and open to learning, noting that the platform could connect them to future partners, investors and employers.

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