Seven years on, mobile telecom boom works changes in Nigeria
Monday, 25 August 2008
ABUJA, Aug 24, (AFP): Seven years after their launch, mobile phone services have transformed Nigeria's society and economy, bringing unprecedented changes in just a short time, officials say.
Earlier this year, Nigeria, Africa's most populous country outstripped economic powerhouse South Africa as the continent's biggest market for mobile telephony.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) head Ernest Ndukwe told AFP that as of March 2008 there were total of 60.9 million phone subscribers - - that is 70 times more than before mobile services were launched in the country in 2001.
The opening up of the industry came with the licensing of three Gobal System of Mobile Communications (GSM) operators-
South Africa-based MTN Nigeria, Econet Wireless Nigeria (first known as Celtel, now as Zain) and M-TEL, the mobile arm of state- run group NITEL.
Local operator Globacom and United Arab Emirates group Etisalat were later licensed but the latter has not yet started operations.
Analysts say MTN ranks as market leader, followed by Globacom and Zain, with the number of mobile subscribers likely to rise by 10 million per annum over the next five years.
"The exponential growth ... has pushed up Nigeria's (mobile telecoms penetration rate) from 0.73 per cent in 2001 to 32.79 per cent in March 2008," Ndukwe said.
Before the advent of mobiles, Nigeria had a congested, expensive and un- user-friendly landline system, with more than 10 million people waiting to be connected by the state-run telecoms monopoly NITEL in 2000.
"Connection costs were prohibitively high ... while the waiting time for fixed lines ran into years," NCC's Ndukwe said.
Then in 2001, then president Olusegun Obasanjo broke NITEL's monopoly by licensing private operators.
"Nothing has been the same since then. Nigeria has been transformed socially, economically and technologically as a result of that decision," Tayo Ekundayo, spokesman for firm Multi-Links, told the agency.
Fidel Otuya of Intercellular, another telecoms firm, agrees.
"The exponential growth of the last seven years is more than an explosion. It is in fact a bang. A revolution which has changed our way of doing things-businesses, communications and security," he said.
Earlier this year, Nigeria, Africa's most populous country outstripped economic powerhouse South Africa as the continent's biggest market for mobile telephony.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) head Ernest Ndukwe told AFP that as of March 2008 there were total of 60.9 million phone subscribers - - that is 70 times more than before mobile services were launched in the country in 2001.
The opening up of the industry came with the licensing of three Gobal System of Mobile Communications (GSM) operators-
South Africa-based MTN Nigeria, Econet Wireless Nigeria (first known as Celtel, now as Zain) and M-TEL, the mobile arm of state- run group NITEL.
Local operator Globacom and United Arab Emirates group Etisalat were later licensed but the latter has not yet started operations.
Analysts say MTN ranks as market leader, followed by Globacom and Zain, with the number of mobile subscribers likely to rise by 10 million per annum over the next five years.
"The exponential growth ... has pushed up Nigeria's (mobile telecoms penetration rate) from 0.73 per cent in 2001 to 32.79 per cent in March 2008," Ndukwe said.
Before the advent of mobiles, Nigeria had a congested, expensive and un- user-friendly landline system, with more than 10 million people waiting to be connected by the state-run telecoms monopoly NITEL in 2000.
"Connection costs were prohibitively high ... while the waiting time for fixed lines ran into years," NCC's Ndukwe said.
Then in 2001, then president Olusegun Obasanjo broke NITEL's monopoly by licensing private operators.
"Nothing has been the same since then. Nigeria has been transformed socially, economically and technologically as a result of that decision," Tayo Ekundayo, spokesman for firm Multi-Links, told the agency.
Fidel Otuya of Intercellular, another telecoms firm, agrees.
"The exponential growth of the last seven years is more than an explosion. It is in fact a bang. A revolution which has changed our way of doing things-businesses, communications and security," he said.