This week at the ITU Telecom World in Busan, South Korea, Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice-President of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced Nigeria’s telecoms sector recorded modest improvement in 2017 with additional USD2 billion being added to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector.
The VP said within a period of 16 years since the issuance of mobile phone licenses, investment in telecoms has gone from 50 million to 70 billion US dollars. It was USD 68 billion in 2016, mainly as FDI. According to him, the modest increase in 2017 stems from the federal government’s implementation of new policies to attract further investment in the sector and the economy in general after the crisis oil.
“We are here to tell the ICT community that Nigeria, with a population of about 15 million people, is in the process of investing,” said Umar Garba Danbatta, delegates, investors, companies, etc., at the Nigerian Investment Forum. 170 million inhabitants, is a privileged investment destination in Africa. With more than 150 million active subscribers in the voice segment, more than 102% of teledensity and just over 92 million Internet connections, Nigeria is indeed an investment place,” he said.
He revealed that the Nigerian government through the NCC has put in place measures and guidelines for the reception of broadband wholesale service providers in accordance with the open access model. He added that the commission in consultation with industry players, has also introduced, among other things, a code of governance for telecom companies that acts as a guide for managers and the board of directors. The document describes global best practices covering the company’s processes, procedures and general behavior to ensure good governance, to attract investors and to ensure a return on investment.
