One of the strategic moves made by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, between 2015 and 2019, under the leadership of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, as EVC/CEO, is the creation of an enabling environment for increasing the opportunities for investment in the telecom industry in Nigeria.
In that period, the Foreign Direct Investment, FDI and local investment profile of Nigeria, in the telecoms sector, stood at $70 billion in 2019, up from the $38 billion it was, in 2015.
During the maiden edition of the Nigerian Telecom Leadership Summit, NTLS, which was held in Lagos in 2019, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Executive Vice Chairman.
“The volume of telecom investment in Nigeria is, very impressive and indicative of a very fast-growing and resilient sector of the economy, but we will continue to advocate for more investment, given that, the industry is, very capital intensive, with the competition for FDI becoming fiercer, among different nations”, stressed Danbatta at the Nigerian Telecom Leadership Summit, NTLS, held in Laos in 2019.
“In our consultative regulatory process, we consider shared experiences and shared vision as the best approach to equip us with the tools, to continuously reposition towards the course of effective regulation”, Danbatta further stated.
He also noted that, as the 4th Industrial Revolution blurs the lines between the physical, biological and digital boundaries, the industry will continue to witness challenges of investments, to match growth and technology evolution dynamics.
In this age, broadband is of critical importance, with its potential to improve the economy of many nations and the Commission is at the forefront of making this happen.
“We may all be aware of the empirical study by the World Bank, which suggests that, for every 10 percent growth in Broadband penetration, it results in 1.34% in Gross Domestic Product, GDP, in developing countries.
This is one of the reasons, why we have developed the regulatory and licensing framework, to accelerate broadband availability, accessibility and affordability”, concluded Danbatta at the Summit.
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