The total number of active mobile subscribers reached 210 million in August 2022 from 208.6 million in July, with teledensity of 109.99 per cent.
Internet subscribers also exceeded 152.2 million, with broadband penetration standing at 44.65 per cent.
The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communication Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Efosa Idehen, disclosed this at the NCC Day during the 17th Abuja International Trade Fair on Tuesday.
According to Danbatta, in this new environment, the competitiveness of Nigeria’s SMEs depended on the ability to leverage new technologies by acquiring the necessary digital skills to do business on an international scale.
He said the steady growth in the telecoms sector over the years with its persuasive positive impact on all other sectors of the economy in terms of increased automation of processes and digital transformation in service delivery had been remarkable.
To sustain this, he said, “the NCC continues to create conducive environment that stimulates deployment of robust telecoms/broadband infrastructure for improving the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for telecoms consumers, be it individuals or corporates. This is because, as a country, we need robust telecoms infrastructure that will help our SMEs to transit to becoming Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven if we hope to be digitally competitive on the global stage.”
He said the commission was working assiduously with various stakeholders to see how more businesses would embrace digital platforms for delivering their services to the consumer.
“Indeed, digitalisation of the SME sector of the Nigerian economy is strongly connected to telecommunications, giving the power the telecom sector has to positively disrupt traditional business models. This explains why the growing demand for connectivity is pressuring telecom companies to upgrade their telecommunications infrastructure. As a result, network transformation has become far more imperative for innovative businesses, allowing them to address changing customer expectations.”
Danbatta noted that the NCC was driving initiatives for full launch of the 5G network in Nigeria, noting that spectrum licenses for the companies that would roll out the service had been issued.
Also, the deployment will start from the state capital and gradually extend to other states, he said, noting that the 5G network would bring substantial network improvements, including higher connection speed, mobility, and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities to communications services in Nigeria.
Also speaking at the event, Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Efosa Idehen, represented by Deputy Director Consumer Affairs Bureau NCC, Mistura Aruna, said as regulator of the telecommunication sector in Nigeria, the commission ensured service availability, accessibility, affordability and sustainability for all categories of consumers who were leveraging ICT/Telecoms to drive personal business.
Idehen said the theme of the trade fair, “Creating an Export Ready Market through SME Digitisation” could not have been made a better time, noting that it coincided with the time the Federal Government approved the deployment of the 5G technology.
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