Author Josephine Okojie

The latest telecommunication report released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that Nigeria’s telecommunication sector contributed N1.34 billion to the economy in the opening quarter of the year.

The NBS report states that the sector records a monthly growth rate average of 0.95 percent, while the annual growth rate in the sector averaged 46.29 percent between 2002 and 2014, with the highest rate recorded in 2004 at 153.65 percent and lowest rate of 8. 53 percent was recorded in 2011.

“The opening quarter of 2015 recorded a real growth rate of 5.36 percent, a rise of 0.61 percent points from the 2014 average growth rate, which was 4.75 percent,” the report said.

Nigeria, Africa largest economy and biggest oil producer, gross domestic product (GDP) declined to 3.86 percent in the first quarter of 2015.
The ICT sector is experiencing a 10.3 percent compound annual growth rates (CAGR) in 2014, way ahead of South Africa on 6.5 percent and Kenya on 9.5 percent.

The bureau affirmed that the sector recorded a significant growth in the subscriber’s base from 2.27 million subscribers in 2002 when Nigeria issued its first mobile license to 143.05 million at the end of Q1 2015.

Out of the four telecoms providers, MTN dominated the number of subscriptions with 61.21 million subscribers, which is 42.84 percent of the total subscription.

Globacom followed with 30.03 million subscribers, representing 21 per cent, while Airtel, with a subscriber base of 28.6 million, which is 20.4 percent, followed. Etisalat recorded 22.3 million subscribers, representing 15.69 per cent.

Mobile phone/voice penetration has increased to over 96 percent of the population, compared to 0.73 percent in 2001.

There is also a remarkable surge in Nigeria’s internet subscriptions, rising over the last 12 months from 48.2 million in June 2013 to just under 70 million today 2014 according to reports by the National Communication Commission (NCC).

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/06/telecoms-contributes-n1-34bn-to-economy-in-q1-2015/#.VZQd4vSjqhY