Telecom
GSM Service Nine Years After
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.
WhatsApp’s introduction of usernames ostensibly to increase privacy for users so they don’t have to swap phone numbers – could backfire if hackers turn usernames into a new avenue for privacy attacks.
This is according to two experts, who both note that usernames will be fair game for hackers, while also being accessible to governmental agencies and advertisers, upending WhatsApp’s key to success: conversations and calls are end-to-end encrypted by default.
WhatsApp has always stated that its encryption “ensures that only you and the person you are communicating with can read or listen to them, preventing anyone in between – including WhatsApp, Meta, or cyber criminals – from accessing your data”.
Over the weekend, the messaging app said it was introducing usernames so that users provide these as contact details instead of phone numbers, which it calls “a major privacy feature”. It is encouraging users to “reserve your username now, before the feature launches later this year”.
“Sometimes you just want to chat without handing over your digits,” WhatsApp says, noting that a phone number is personal and tied to many parts of a user’s life.
The Facebook and Instagram owner says: “This is also true for group conversations. You want to join the parent chat for the soccer team but you’re not ready to give your phone number to people you’ve never met.”
Trading View, a financial markets analysis platform, says: “The approach could help Meta position the update as a controlled privacy tool rather than a discovery feature, while bringing WhatsApp closer to rival messaging apps such as Signal, which already allows username-based conversations.”
It adds there will be no directory or username suggestions, so users will need to know a person’s exact username to contact them for the first time. An optional username key can be enabled to further restrict who is able to message them.
Meta is also introducing safeguards as the feature rolls out to reduce the risk of impersonation and scams, Trading View explains. Existing Facebook and Instagram usernames will be reserved for their current owners during the reservation period, and certain usernames associated with public figures, celebrities and government entities will remain permanently protected.
ICT veteran commentator Adrian Schofield, however, questions whether the feature will deliver the privacy benefits users expect. “Short usernames will not be difficult to find and are likely to become a new ‘game’ for those who enjoy breaking privacy protection,” he says.
The big issue is privacy, says T4i director Mark Walker, formerly with research company IDC. WhatsApp built its reputation on shielding users’ identities regardless of which groups they joined, or who they associated with. That promise, he argues, is now being quietly redefined.
“‘Privacy’ now means protection from impersonation by other users, not privacy from the platform’s own surveillance, data linkage, or other entities. It’s a security feature rebranded for a privacy-sensitive audience, directly trading away individual privacy for a form of collective safety,” he says.
Walker adds: “Users value WhatsApp for its privacy; none of the groups you join or people you associate with are shared externally with advertisers. That is what is being eroded.”
This move, Walker says, is “a sophisticated monetisation play,” using privacy, security and regulation to motivate users to verify their identities – for a fee – while positioning Meta as what he calls “the all-seeing trusted eye” attractive to both advertisers and government agencies.
In its announcement, Meta says users can reserve a username to use later this year when the feature launches. “A lot of names overlap, which is why we’re opening reservations early so everyone has the opportunity to select the username that matters to them.”
Content creators, small businesses and organisations that want to maintain a consistent online presence will be able to claim their existing Instagram or Facebook username on WhatsApp through reserved username options, says Meta.
“For most people, choosing a WhatsApp username should be something unique that only people you want to contact you will know. If you need help picking one, we have a username generator to make one work just for you,” Meta says.
WhatsApp had reached three billion users globally as of Meta’s 2025 first quarter results, or 36% of the world’s population. “WhatsApp now has more than three billion monthly actives, with more than 100 million people in the US and growing quickly there,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the time.
During Meta’s latest results, Zuckerberg said: “WhatsApp continues to see strong momentum too, including in the US.”
Schofield questioned whether desirable short usernames could become targets for impersonation. “Look at the older Gmail accounts! Time to take a good look at alternative platforms? This feature will be rolled out in tranches,” Meta says.
Telecom
Airtel Nigeria CEO Urges Adoption of Intelligent Technology Platforms to Accelerate National Growth
Dinesh Balsingh, Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, has called on business leaders to accelerate Nigeria’s digital future by embracing intelligent technology platforms that drive innovation, productivity, and sustainable economic growth.
Speaking at the Lagos Business School (LBS) Breakfast Club on the theme, “From Telco to Techno,” Balsingh said the telecommunications industry is evolving beyond connectivity to become the foundation for enterprise transformation and the country’s digital economy.
Balsingh explained that while previous generations of mobile technology connected people through voice, internet access, and mobile broadband, the future lies in intelligent ecosystems powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), satellite connectivity, and integrated enterprise solutions.
“The role of telecommunications has fundamentally changed. Businesses are no longer asking only for connectivity; they want solutions that improve productivity, strengthen security, and accelerate digital transformation. That is the journey Airtel is leading. We are evolving from a telecommunications company into a technology partner that helps organisations unlock growth and create long-term value,” he said.
Noting that value is no longer measured by the volume of data consumed but by the business outcomes technology delivers, he highlighted a key shift in telecommunications to AI-powered customer protections, industry-specific digital solutions, IoT platforms, and hybrid satellite-terrestrial networks that extend reliable connectivity to underserved communities and remote business locations.
“Technology should do more than connect people. It should protect them, simplify operations, and help businesses make better decisions. Investments are now focused on building smarter, more resilient digital infrastructure that supports organisations across every sector of the economy.”
He added that sectors including retail, education, healthcare, government, manufacturing, and oil and gas increasingly require integrated digital solutions that combine connectivity with cloud services, intelligent networking, surveillance, automation, and data analytics.
Balsingh also urged business leaders to rethink their digital priorities, noting that future competitiveness will depend on how connected, intelligent, secure, automated, and resilient their organisations become.
“The organisations that will lead the next decade are those that invest today in intelligent digital infrastructure. Our customers are no longer buying connectivity alone. They are investing in productivity, intelligence, and digital transformation.”
The session, which also featured the IMF Resident Representative for Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, formed part of the Lagos Business School Breakfast Club, a platform that brings together business executives and industry leaders to examine emerging trends shaping the future of enterprise and economic development.
Airtel Nigeria’s participation reinforced its commitment to supporting Nigeria’s digital transformation by enabling businesses with innovative technologies that improve efficiency, strengthen resilience, and unlock new opportunities for growth across the country’s rapidly evolving digital economy.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for accelerated deployment of Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) infrastructure, saying robust broadband connectivity is critical to achieving Nigeria’s ambition of building a one trillion-dollar economy.
Dr Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, made the call while delivering a keynote address at the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) High-Level Industry Forum on FTTH in Lagos.
Maida said that although demand for high-speed internet continues to rise due to the growth of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, streaming services and digital businesses, fixed fibre broadband remains significantly underdeveloped in Nigeria.
According to him, the country currently has about 265,000 active FTTH subscriptions, a penetration level below the African average of 2.5 per cent and far behind the 47 per cent average recorded in more mature broadband markets.
“This low base should not discourage us. It should focus us.
“It shows the scale of the opportunity before Nigeria and reinforces the need to create the right conditions for fibre infrastructure to expand more rapidly, more sustainably and more widely across the country,” he said.
Maida said fibre infrastructure provides the speed, resilience and scalability required to support increasingly data-intensive applications and future technology upgrades.
He added that improved broadband infrastructure would enhance business competitiveness, expand digital services, improve productivity and attract greater investment into the country’s digital economy.
The NCC boss disclosed that the commission is conducting a Wholesale Fixed Broadband Market Assessment to evaluate competition in the wholesale broadband segment and identify measures to encourage infrastructure investment.
He said the assessment would also promote infrastructure sharing, strengthen open access models and improve affordability for consumers.
Maida renewed the commission’s call on state governments to remove barriers to fibre deployment, identifying Right of Way (RoW) approvals as one of the major obstacles to broadband expansion.
He said excessive RoW charges, prolonged approval timelines and multiple permitting requirements continue to increase deployment costs and delay network rollout.
According to him, 13 states have completely waived Right of Way charges, while 16 others have adopted the National Economic Council’s recommended rate of N145 per linear metre.
He said the commission would continue engaging the remaining states to eliminate impediments to broadband investment.
The NCC also disclosed that it had launched an Ease of Doing Business Portal to provide investors and network operators with state-by-state information on Right of Way charges, approval procedures and regulatory requirements.
Maida urged governments, property developers and urban planners to incorporate telecommunications infrastructure into the design of new residential and commercial developments.
He also stressed the need to enforce technical and safety standards in fibre deployment projects, warning that poor installation practices and substandard materials could lead to service disruptions and increased maintenance costs.
“Our priority is not simply that fibre is deployed quickly, but that it is built to last and capable of supporting Nigeria’s digital ambitions for decades to come,” he said.
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