…Stakeholders Attribute Growth To NCC’s Regulatory Interventions
The ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, has not slowed growth of the Nigeria’s telecommunications and information services industry, rather the sector continues a bullish showing swelling the second quarter of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with N2.3 trillion.
Information from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), available to eworldnews show the sectors contribution to Q2 GDP surged from N1.821 trillion in the first quarter of 2020 to hit N2.272 trillion.
Analysis of the available figures indicate while the entire Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry recorded 17.83 percent in the second quarter, the 14.30 percent contribution of the telecoms sub-sector was unprecedented, far above oil and gas, and other non-oil sectors’.
In 2015, telecoms’ contribution to GDP stood at eight percent and has grown significantly quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year to reach the current milestone of 14.30 percent.
Stakeholders who spoke to media attributed the second quarter contribution of the telecoms sector, which represents a leap from the 10.88 per cent in Q1 2020, to the sound regulatory environment enthroned by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators (ALTON) Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, said the growth of the sector was due to many factors which include the investor-friendly policy and regulatory environment championed by the leadership of NCC, the commitment of all stakeholders, consistent investment in network maintenance and expansion, and sacrifice by sector operators.
To sustain this growth, the ALTON Chairman said the country should continue to invest in network expansion and maintenance operations, access to foreign exchange to procure network critical equipment, consistency in policy and policy environment.
Adebayo said there should be access to spectrum and friendly policies around its allocation, assignment and cooperation between the stakeholders.
Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, (ATCON President, Olusola Teniola, said: “telecoms industry has remained bullish owing to the quality of leadership at the helm of affairs at the Commission.”
President of National Association of Telecoms Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS) Adeolu Ogunbajo, said the proactive regulatory approach of Danbatta has helped made telecoms “the oxygen that keeps economic activities afloat during the lock downs and consumers are appreciative of the fact that the Commission, working with its supervising Ministry, didn’t allow the consumer to suffer serious disruption to quality of service and quality of experience.”
Stakeholders insist that effective regulatory regime, backed by various initiatives of the Commission and efforts of the supervising Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy at addressing industry challenges, is providing the needed digital valves that have supported the economy from collapse, since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The increase in broadband penetration, Internet usage, number of access to telephone and several other initiatives by the Commission, especially in the areas of driving tech innovations, employment creation, promotion of digital inclusiveness, which are policy directions of NCC, an industry regulator, has, in the last five years, boosted the sector’s contribution to GDP.
Despite these policy activities which have enhanced the growth of digital-based activities across other sectors of the economy, increasing efficiency and effectiveness, the Executive Vice Chairman NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has listed critical regulatory actions that have been taken by the Commission to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of service (QoS) delivery by the networks to telecom consumers and further increase the sector’s contribution to the economy.
He enumerated the measures while speaking at the first edition of the Virtual Telecom Consumer Parliament (V-TCP) hosted by the Commission in Abuja on Friday, 21st August, 2020 with the theme: “Impact of Covid-19 on Telecoms Service Delivery.” The Telecom Consumer Parliament is NCC’s flagship forum for in-depth engagement with service providers to discuss issues of contemporary interest affecting consumers of telecom services in the country.
Citing an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) report, the EVC said with the pandemic, some telecom operators and platforms are reporting demand spike, especially in data usage and volume of calls, as high as 800 per cent since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Regardless of this, Danbatta said the Commission and the mobile network operators needed to play their roles in sustaining quality of service delivery and quality of experience by the consumers, who are critical stakeholders in the telecoms sector.
Danbatta said the NCC, in conjunction with the supervising Ministry developed e-platforms to handle all requests from the licensees to ensure that regulatory services are provided to sustain service delivery to subscribers.
He said the Commission also approved and encouraged resource sharing among network operators and secured Right of Passage (RoP) for all telecommunications companies and suppliers for easy movement during the lockdown. These measures enabled the operators to service their base stations and ensured seamless services for telecom consumers who increasingly relied on the networks during the pandemic.
