Telecom
Danbatta Highlights Achievements Says Broadband Penetration on Fast-tract
The national target to achieve 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025 is receiving renewed attention from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which promises 50 per cent before the end of 2023.
This promise was one of the highlights of the special media chat with executive editors and media chiefs in the northern part of the country, hosted by the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, to unveil his achievements since the resumption of office till date.
At the occasion, where Danbatta informed the media chiefs that Fifth Generation (5G) services subscriptions have already hit half a million in subscription, the various efforts of the Commission to improve broadband penetration are yielding fruitful results with the current estimates as at July 2023 standing at 47.01 per cent.
Using the extant reviewed five-pillar Strategic Vision Plan as building block, the EVC spoke to 119 milestones achieved under the five strategic pillars, including regulatory excellence, universal broadband, market development, digital economy and strategic collaboration.
Danbatta said through effective implementation of NCC’s mandates under his leadership and cooperation of internal and external stakeholders since 2015, telecommunications industry in Nigeria has achieved remarkable milestones under our leadership.
“While we acknowledge the challenges encountered by the industry, we have also witnessed explosive growth, improved regulatory standards, and digital innovations that have garnered global recognition,” he said.
While reeling out impressive statistics that have characterized his leadership at NCC from 2015 to date, the EVC said active telephone subscribers had increased from less than 150.7 million to 218.9 million, representing a teledensity growth of 115.70 per cent from 107.87 per cent in 2015.
Through stimulating broadband infrastructure across the country, Danbatta said broadband penetration, which stood at 6 per cent in 2015 has increased significantly to 47.01 per cent as of July, 2023, enhancing over 89.73 million subscriptions on 3G, 4G and 5G networks in the country. Additionally, general Internet subscriptions have reached 159.5 million up from less than 100 million in 2015.
“Also, from 8 per cent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015, telecommunications sector now contributes 16 per cent quarterly to the Nigerian economy as of the second quarter of 2023. besides, following the authorization of more telecommunications companies to operate in the Nigeria’s telecoms sector, the investments profile has increased tremendously from $38 billion in 2015 to $75 billion currently and this keeps growing daily. From the sales of Fifth Generation (5G) C-Band Spectrum, the NCC has generated over $847.8 million for the Federal Government,” he said.
Danbatta, who has received a gallery of awards nationally, regionally and globally in recognition of the outstanding performance of Nigeria’s telecom industry also listed several achievements recorded since 2015.
“Other milestones and initiatives recorded aside the regulatory activities that culminated in the landmark launch of 5G services in Nigeria include the introduction of Spectrum Trading Guidelines, re-farming and re-planning certain spectrum band for efficiency, the emplaced collaborative process for the release of C-Band Spectrum by Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, and introduction of the Expanded Revenue Assurance Solution (ERAS) to address revenue leakages and improve government revenue from the telecoms industry.
“These initiatives also include Licensing of Satellite Earth Stations, issuing of operating licence to SpaceX Satellite, facilitating the landing of additional submarine Cables, such as the Google 2,000km Equiano subsea Internet cable in 2022, listing of MTN on the Nigerian bourse, licensing of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), introduction of new unlicensed millimeter wave spectrum, and regulation of white space spectrum,” Danbata said.
Also as part of NCC’s commitment under Danbatta’s leadership, the Commission has endowed professorial chairs in Nigerian universities and committed over N500 million naira to Research and Development (R&D) in the telecoms sector.
“The creation of the Digital Economy Department, the mandate to drive the implementation of the indigenous telecoms sector growth through the operation of the Nigeria Office for Developing Indigenous Telecom Sector (NODITS), are also important strides made by the Commission,” he said.
Danbatta said other consumer-focused initiatives of the Commission have also centered on the establishment of Emergency Communications Centres (ECCs) in over 30 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). All these centres are operational, as well as the creation of the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT).
The EVC said these two initiatives have been helping consumers to get succour in times of emergencies as well as ensuring effective protection for telecom consumers while online.
The NCC Chief Executive said the Commission has also taken very clear actions on consumer protection, advocacy, information-sharing and education.
“These include introduction of data roll-over just before the expiration of subscribed data plans, introduction of the 622 toll-free number for lodging service-related complaints to the Commission, the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code for tackling the menace of unsolicited text messages, elimination of forceful/deceitful subscriptions to telecom services on mobile networks, tackling the issue of call masking, ensuring effective Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration, launching of National Roaming service and reduction of access gaps to telecom services from over 217 to 97, thereby enhancing access to telecom services by more Nigerians,” Danbatta said.
However, Danbatta said while the industry still faces a number of challenges such as vandalism, securing equitable Right of Way (RoW) from governmental stakeholders, as well as multiple taxation and regulation, the Commission has put framework in place to work with necessary stakeholders to overcome the obstacles possed by these challenges and to sustain the growth trajectory which has been the hallmark of telecoms sector as an enabler of socio-economic development in Nigeria.
Glo 1, the international submarine cable wholly owned and operated by digital and telecom services company, Globacom, has marked eight years of uninterrupted connectivity, from 2016 to date.
Throughout this period, it has maintained an excellent record in the provision of internet access for both customers in Nigeria and across Africa. It lived up to expectations in March, this year during the widespread internet disruptions as result of cuts to other submarine cables in Nigeria and West Africa.
Glo 1 was functioning all through, providing normal operations to financial institutions, internet service providers, and data consumers.
The resilience of the facility has been attributed to its robust construction and durability by industry experts.
To further enhance its capabilities, Globacom has upgraded the Glo 1 submarine fiber cable infrastructure, optimizing its utilization and service delivery, leading to provision of direct, low-latency connectivity to London and ensuring ultra-fast and reliable internet access.
The upgrade further complements Globacom’s continuous network expansions and upgrades, targeted at ensuring customers’ unique calling and browsing experiences.
Reiterating the capacity of Glo 1 to provide tailored solutions to meet the diverse needs of various clients across different sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, manufacturers, government institutions, educational establishments, and medical facilities, Globacom explained that the cable supports key applications such as teleconferencing, distance learning, disaster recovery, and telemedicine, benefitting communities across Africa.
Globacom has sole ownership of the entire Glo 1 infrastructure, spanning access systems, national fiber-optic backbone, international gateways, international cable networks, and data center services. The comprehensive ownership enables Globacom to offer Glo 1 clients a unique advantage through last-mile and domestic long-haul services, as well as wide presence and fiber-optic networks.
Airtel Africa has reported a consolidated net profit of $ 7 million for the first quarter of its 2025 financial year ending June 2024 against a $ 170 million loss in the year-ago period.
Its net profit was primarily impacted by the $ 80 million of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses (net of tax) and lower Ebitda due to significant currency devaluation across key markets, Airtel Africa said.
It had reported a loss of $ 91 million for the fourth quarter ended March 2024 on account of tax impact and forex loss.
“Strong fundamentals and focussed execution continue to support operating performance despite challenging macro-economic environment,” the company, which operates in 14 African countries, said.
The company’s consolidated revenue fell 16 per cent in Q1 FY25 to $ 1,156 million from $ 1,377 million a year ago.
The decline in revenue reflects the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria, the company said.
“We have initiated a comprehensive cost optimisation programme across the Group. We have already seen success in this project, with savings arising in network and distribution costs, and continued opportunities as contract renegotiations continue. We expect sustainable savings to continue as the year progresses,” said Airtel Africa CEO Sunil Taldar.
Airtel Africa has fully repaid the outstanding debt due at the HoldCo during Q1, he said, adding that the company is trying to further reduce foreign currency exposure to limit the impact of currency devaluation on the business.
“The growth opportunity across our markets remains compelling, and we continue to focus on margin improvement as indicated in our FY24 results,” Taldar said.
The company’s Ebitda margins tanked to 45.3 per cent from 49.5 per cent in the year-ago period.
“Reported currency trends were clearly impacted by the FX headwinds across some of our markets, particularly in Nigeria and Malawi. This contributed to a reported Group revenue and Ebitda decline of 16.1 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively, in Q125,” the company said.
Its total customer base grew by 8.6 per cent to 155.4 million.
“Data customer penetration continues to rise, driving a 13.4 per cent increase in data customers to 64.4 million. Data usage per customer increased by 25.1 per cent to 6.2 GBs, with smartphone penetration increasing 4.7 per cent to reach 41.7 per cent,” the company said.
A new report of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has ranked Nigeria very high at 71 per cent, in comparative legal, policy and governance frameworks towards G5 – advanced state of readiness for digital transformation known as G5 with Germany, Finland and Singapore leading the global chart.
In the report conducted by the ITU, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and unveiled by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani in Abuja on Monday, Nigeria was ranked among Africa’s top seven BEMECS 5G Readiness Index, which represents the country’s readiness to deploy and adopt mass-market 5G networks.
Titled, Collaborative Regulation: Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Transformation, and presented at the Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja by ITU’s Kagwira Nkonge, the report, among other things, presented a case study for ‘collaborative regulation review to assess and support Nigeria’s transition towards collaborative digital governance, evidence-based policy making and agile regulation in the digital economy”.
The report, which was presented to a cross section of key industry stakeholders including service providers, government agencies, representatives of multilateral institutions, West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), Africa Telecommunications Union (ATU), among others, was also designed to complement existing cross-country benchmarks in which features of countries policy and regulatory environment are assessed.
The features of countries policy and regulatory environment are assessed according to the pillars of the Generations of Regulation frameworks which tracks telecom regulatory maturity towards digital transformation readiness, designated at G5 Advanced State of Readiness”, and for which Nigeria currently stands at G4.
Advanced State of Readiness is benchmarked against four critical levels of accomplishments which include national collaborative governance, policy design principles, digital development toolbox, digital economic policy agenda, with Nigeria scoring 91 per cent in regulatory capacity; 82 per cent in Market Rules; 81 per cent.
For further inquiries: Director Public Affairs Department, Nigerian Communications Commission Plot 423 Aguiyi-Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja email: [email protected] Tel: +234-90204617325, +234-8051110337 in Collaborative Governance; 76 per cent in Legal Instruments for ICT/Telecom markets; 69 per cent in National Digital Agenda Policy, among other benchmarks.
Dr. Tijani, in his remarks at the event, commended the ITU and partner agencies and consultants that actualised the report; and expressed Federal Government’s commitment “to utilise this report as a navigational aid towards attainment of our regulatory objectives and policies outlines towards achieving a robust digital
economy”.
“That is what we will continue to do as a government, ensuring that we can put ourselves in a place to have cutting-edge modern regulations in place to ensure that business is done properly in our sector and to ensure that, where possible, increase the local content of the sector as well,” he said.
Dr. Tijani noted that NCC has adapted over the years in response to how its role and mandate have changed. He explained, “Fifteen, twenty years ago, NCC was just regulating the telecommunications sector, today, NCC regulates the foundation for which any economy would be prosperous.”
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida, who hosted the presentation, welcomed the indicators that promote effective regulation, attraction of greater investment, and development of innovative models for broader digital inclusion.
He emphasised that collaborative regulation would support Nigeria’s transition towards effective digital governance, evidence-based policy making and agile regulation in the nation’s digital economy.
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