Nigeria’s telecoms sector added about 11.5 million new mobile subscribers in the year 2014, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, added that the country has also recorded a teledensity of 101.8%, 83.2 million internet subscribers and internet penetration rate of 59.4% within the last four year.
He added that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of about $12bn was attracted by the sector between 2011 and this year, rising from $20bn FDI in 2010. He told journalists that telecoms sector’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution now stands at 9%.
“This is impressive considering that in 2010 there were 88.3million subscribers with a tele-density of about 63.1% and less than 20million internet subscribers and aggregate investment of about $25billion with a GDP contribution of 4.5%. Regardless of this impressive performance however, Nigerian telecommunications industry still has tremendous opportunities for growth, especially in the area of broadband infrastructure deployment,” the NCC EVC said.
He said the commission would continue to encourage the roll-out and strengthening of ICT infrastructure, while promoting healthy competition in the broadband ecosystem.
“The foundation for the growth of the broadband ecosystem has been set, the implementation of the plans and frameworks are underway, the time for harvesting of the dividends from the effective and efficient implementation of the carefully thought out frameworks is close,” he said.