$800Bn Investment Buoys ICT Sector, But…

The rapid development and transformation of the information and communications technologies (ICTs) space was orchestrated by some $800 billion invested in the sector over the past decade, Nigeria CommuniccationsWeek has learnt.

The figure is best estimate as reliable statistics are hard to come by but coming from who should know, it is more accurate approximation of the profound investment in the sector.

Ernest Ndukwe, chairman, Open Media Group and immediate past executive vice chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) who stirred the now famous telecommunications revolution said that explosion in ICT created a new breed of entrepreneurs that resulted in the remarkable improvement in the space in the last 10 years.

“Until 2008, South Africa was the leader in the African telecom market but Nigeria overtook it in short record time,” he added.

Ndukwe told a compelling story of how Nigeria became an investment haven and said that the open market approach adopted by the sector promoted rapid development in communication.

As at the end of August 2012, he noted that the country’s fixed and mobile lines stand at 105 million, with a teledensity of 7.5 per cent, all propelled by private investments into the sector, which he puts at over $800 billion since February, 2001.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek however gathered that the telecom industry has particularly excelled as it rose from a mere 400,000 connected lines in 2001 to the record high.

In the midst of all these, the sector is plagued by a legion of problems, most of them human.

The ICT industry is faced with security issues at base stations, multiple regulations and taxation, unfriendly host communities, vandalism among others.

Tunde Odedina, an ICT consultant warned that if the problems are not addressed, the growth recorded in the sector will be reversed.

Already, telecommunication operators are experiencing poor mobile services due to the recent attacks some states of the north.

The attacks have also halted fresh investments in some of the states as operators tread with upmost caution.

Elsewhere, telecom operators said that the sector’s survival is being threatened by the N10 billion annual multiple taxations levied on them by the federal, state and local governments.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, (Alton) said that -regulation and multiple taxation will retard growth in the telecoms industry if not properly addressed.