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At 54, Telecoms Has Impacted Nigerian Economy [analysis](AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Emma Okonji reviews the activities of the telecommunications industry in the last 54 years. When writing the history of Nigeria from the time the country attained Independence in 1960, to the present day, the role of telecommunications in the development of the Nigerian economy must be given a prominent place. Before independence, telecommunications was a nightmare, as person to person communications then was only by telegraphic means, a system in which information is communicated over a wire with a series of electrical current pulses. The basic components include a source of direct current, a length of wire or cable, and a current-indicating device such as a relay, or light bulb. Transmission of alphameric messages was done over a distance and the transcription of such messages was done at the receiving station, accomplished by means of electrical signals transmitted by wire and/or by radio signals. The characteristic feature of telegraph communication is that the message is delivered to the addressee in the form of a printed or handwritten text. After independence, and with the establishment of the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), telecommunications became a little easier but not without some difficulties as people had to queue for hours and days, just to make international calls with the 090 line of the then NITEL. Hwever, the advent of Global System for Mobile Communication(GSM) in 2001, eventually demystified telecommunications and made it easier to communicate. Consequently, Nigerians could sit in the comfort of their homes and offices to make instant calls within and outside Nigeria through their personal hand-held devices called the mobile phones. Apart from the core telecommunications activities, the general information and communications technology (ICT), which telecommunications belongs to, also impacted positively on the Nigerian economy. The internet, which is an aspect of ICT, actually facilitated data communications, which eventually turned the world into a global village, where someone from Nigeria could have access to the entire world through the internet. However, all these did not come without challenges of poor service quality with telecommunications and slow data penetration with the internet. Pre Independence Era During the colonial era, shortly before Nigeria gained independence from the British Government, communications were by telegraphic means. In 1886, the first telegraphic submarine cable was laid by a British firm, called Cable and Wireless Limited. Through this means, the colonial masters were communicating from Nigeria to Britain and other developed countries. From 1886 to 1960, Nigeria had 18,724 fixed telephone lines, but between 1960 and year 2000, the active subscriber base grew to 400,000 fixed lines for the then estimated population of 120 million. The period was characterised by several restrictions to the sector, and particularly by monopolistic approach to telecommunications businesses as was globally dictated then. Telecoms from 1960 to 2014 Between 1960 and 1990, there was little economic impact from telecommunications activities on the Nigerian economy. From 1991 to 2000, Nigeria witnessed the advent of a few Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators, with NITEL playing the role of a monopoly. Then Nigerians had to form long queues to dial the NITEL 090 number to make calls that were difficult to pull through. The most eventful period was between 2001 and 2014, when the telecoms sector was liberalised.In 2001, the first set of GSM operators were licensed. They include Econet Wireless (now Airtel), MTN and NITEL. In 2003, Globacom was licensed and in 2008, Etisalat was followed. Within the period, subscriber number grew from 400, 000 lines to over 130 million and the number keeps increasing. Although the deregulation of the sector began in 1993 when the establishment of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as prescribed by Decree 75 of 1992 came into effect, the full deregulation was in 2006, after the five years exclusivity period given to telecoms operators by the NCC elapsed. The NCC had to open up the market by licensing more operators and introduced the limited mobility licence to CDMA operators, who were hitherto restricted to fixed land line operations. The deregulation of the telecoms sector gave room for CDMA companies to operate the limited mobility type of mobile communication, where they were allowed to operate in different regions for which they were given the license to operate. Period of Boom The decade from 2000 till date have been described as Nigeria's telecommunications revolution, given the quantum of growth in the diverse fields of telecommunications services delivery, and regulatory advancements. Chief Executive Officer of Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said the country witnessed a telecoms revolution as the number lept from a paltry 400,000 telephone lines in 2000, to 130 million active subscriber lines as at June 2014. The leap, he said, was massive, phenomenal and marked a paradigm shift from the era of monopoly of NITEL as a national carrier, to the era of easy accessibility to mobile communications with GSM. "We must not forget how we moved within a decade, from endless queues in applying for a NITEL line, to prompt provisioning of service on demand, with the GSM; from paying as much as N150,000, to get the mobile service of the famous M-Tel, to prompt SIM card activation for GSM service within minutes of payment for the service. From long queues in the business premises of NITEL to make both trunk and international calls, to making cakes without delay, using the mobile phone. We must not forget so quickly how we used to almost somersault to enter designated cubicle, in business offices of NITEL telephone exchanges to pick connected trunk and international calls," Ekuwem said. He explained that all is now history with the impressive growth in telecoms. He, however, called on the telecoms Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to expedite action in addressing the issue of poor service quality across networks. Executive Vice Chairman , Dr. Eugene Juwah, who also spoke on the activities of telecoms growth since independence, said: "In terms of growth, Nigeria is ranked the largest and fastest growing telecoms market in Africa and among the ten fastest telecoms growth markets in the world, an indication of its robustness to return on investments. From a private sector investment of about $50 million in 1999, the telecoms industry in Nigeria has by end of 2009, attracted more than $18 billion in private sector investments, including Direct Foreign Investment (FDI). This has also increased to $130 billion in 2014." According to Juwah, more than N300 billion has been contributed to the coffers of the federal government through frequency spectrum sales, enabling government to plough back revenues earned from the sector for funding development infrastructure at the various levels of government. Achievements in ICT According to Ekuwem, Nigeria made tremendous growth in the area of ICT and has moved from main frame computers with punched cards and dummy terminals to personal computers. "We have desktops, laptops, palmtops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, smart phones and all kinds of exotic and exciting Internet and Internet Protocol (IP) network access devices. We have largely migrated from the era of stand-alone PCs to networked computers in local area network environments with access to full Internet," Ekuwem, adding "I remember the beginning of Internet access in Nigeria. It was by dial-up on Unix-to-Unix copy (UUCP) platforms. One could not go for speeds higher than 2.4kpbs. Trying to be ambitious by attempting to go for speeds of 4.8kbps and 9.6kbps resulted in difficulties in having a sustained dial-up handshake. He suggested that the NCC and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) should jointly set up an ICT museum to enable Nigerians see how the digital world has moved from huge tapes/reels as storage devices through five inch floppies, 3.5 inch floppies, CD-ROMs, DVDs, USB flash drives, SD cards to pin-tip size storage devices. According to Ekuwem, achievements in ICT has turned the world into a global village. Internet service is being provided by legacy Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom operators, universities, banks, multinationals, small, medium and large companies, among others. Nigeria has migrated from the initial dialup system of internet access, to Very Small Aperture Technology (VSAT) and broadband submarine optic fibre cables for internet connectivity, courtesy of MainOne, Glo 1, SAT-3, MTN West African Submarine Cable (WASC), among others. Ekuwem, however, said comparitively, Nigeria still has a long way to go. "The exciting summary that I have painted does not make me oblivious of the long walk and the hard work ahead. What I am saying is that Nigeria, in comparison with herself ten years ago has done phenomenally well in the ICT sector. However, Nigeria in comparison with her peers in other parts of the world still has a long way to go. By Nigeria's peers I mean the much talked about Asian tigers," Ekuwem said. He added, "We need to redouble our efforts in ensuring availability of electric power supply, broadband infrastructure penetration to every home and office, human capacity building via formal and non-formal channels, Research and Development in ICT, availability of a critical mass of skilled manpower, encouragement of Nigerian content development, patronage of made-in-Nigeria ICT wares, application of ICT in education, health, agriculture, among others. We need to use ICT to automate processes within the Nigerian economy in order to boost productivity and increase our GDP." Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said the progress made by the Nigerian economy, largely depended on ICT. "Governments at all levels and the private sectors, all depend on ICT for their growth and development. This is true because ICT has since become the fundamental and most reliable public infrastructure that we have in the country today," he said. Broadband penetration The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and Juwah have expressed optimism that the steps taken by government on broadband initiative, will deepen its penetration, create affordability and increase accessibility. Both government officials spoke at the 11th Annual Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation Forum and its 53rd Council Meeting that was hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria, on behalf of the Nigerian people, in Abuja. Highlights of the forum, was how to make high-speed access to the internet more pervasive, affordable and safe to the citizens of the Commonwealth members that make up close to 30 per cent of the world's population. According to Johnson, "Global internet penetration rates have continued to increase and almost 40 per cent of the world's population are now online. However, the numbers of people connected to the internet are fewer in developing countries than in more industrialised ones." She said NCC had adopted the 'Open Broadband Policy', which seeks to open its doors to foreign investors to invest in the Nigerian Broadband Plan. On his part, Juwah said mobile broadband could be achieved with the support of fixed broadband infrastructure, hence the NCC and the Nigerian government are collaborating with the private sector to boost fixed broadband that will eventually drive mobile broadband in the country. Challenges In spite of the achievements in telecoms and ICT in general, subscribers are still faced with poor service quality across networks. Since the rollout of telecom services in 2001, subscribers have been battling with service quality offerings across networks. It is either they are unable to effect calls, unable to recharge their phones or they are burdened with intermittent drop calls and non-delivery of text messages. The current situation is such that networks, in most cases, could go out of service for several hours, leaving subscribers incommunicado for that period of time, and the ugly situation has compelled Nigerians to carry more than one phone. Experience has shown that network challenges are at their peak during yuletide seasons which is few months away. Networks are always congested at yuletide seasons because more people make calls and send text messages during the season, instead of the old tradition of posting and sending 'greeting cards' to their loved ones. Subscribers have expressed fears that if network quality could still be bad as at now, then there is every possibility that the quality will worsen this December because of the yuletide celebrations. To address the challenges, the NCC has come up with several measures, which include the introduction of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and fines, as well as ban on telecoms promos, yet the mobile network challenges continue to bite hard on telecoms subscribers across all networks. Director Public Affairs of NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo had told THISDAY in an interview that the introduction of KPIs was necessary to test the network performance and to be able to discover the areas of weakness of the operators in delivering telecoms services to the people. Worried by the persistent poor service quality, the NCC, in 2012, fined MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and Etisalat, a combined fee of N1.17 billion as penalties for poor service quality in the KPIs test carried out by NCC for the months of March and April that year. NCC has also had course to ban all telecoms promos and lotteries across networks, in 2012, and attributed network congestions to promos and lotteries. Subscribers' Views on Service Quality Worried by the situation of poor service quality, most subscribers have blamed telecoms operators for the challenges they are facing, while some are in sympathy with the operators. They are heaping the blames on the operators and governments at the local, state and federal levels. Mr. Edward Ojo, a civil servant with the Lagos state government, blamed telecoms operators for the difficulties that subscribers are passing through. According to him, "By now subscribers should be happy with services being rendered by telecoms operators, but we are faced with a lot of challenges. After loading the phone with enough credit, you will not be able to use it to make successful calls before the network wipes away the credit. At times we will buy airtime and we will not be able to load it because of poor network." Mrs. Edith Ajayi is of the opinion that telecoms operators be supported by government to overcome their present challenges. She apportioned most of the blames on government agencies for imposing multiple telecoms taxes on operators, and attributed poor service quality to multiple telecoms taxes imposed on telecoms operators. Managing Director of Backup Network, Mr. Monday Ogbe, is, however, blaming telecoms operators for poor quality of service. He is of the opinion that over dependence on mobile network, rather than fixed lines, is largely responsible for poor quality of mobile services in the country. "In the United Kingdom, about 40 per cent of voice traffic is routed through fixed landlines, while about 60 per cent is routed through mobile devices. In Nigeria, over 90 per cent of all voice calls are routed through mobile and less than 10 per cent passes through landlines. Except we begin to redirect our traffic to fibre and depend less on mobile, the challenge of poor quality of service will remain," he said, adding that Nigeria has excess capacities on fibre cables that have already landed the shores of the country, he said. He noted that telecoms operators should be able to move traffic through landlines which operates on fibre. Ojobo said the regime of poor quality service could be attributed to capacity constraints on the part of the service providers. He, however, said NCC had never hesitated to sanction mobile operators that fail to meet agreeable threshold of performance quality. According to him, the challenge facing operators will be addressed when all the stakeholders comprising all the tiers of government meet to check the incidence of multiple taxation currently affecting service providers in the country. He therefore, advised operators to come up with value added products and services to win subscribers to their networks.. NCC's Position Head, Public Relations of NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka explained that telecommunications have impacted positively on the economy. He admitted the fact that subscribers are facing difficult time with poor service quality, but explained that for every five attempted calls, there will always be at least three successful calls, insisting that the situation is not as bad as some people perceived it to be. According to him, out of the number of calls that subscribers make in a day, only about 25 per cent of them are unsuccessful, while 75 per cent are successful. He called on subscribers to exercise some patience with telecoms operators and assured them of improvement with time. ALTON's Views Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo Adebayo, blamed the current poor state of telecoms services across networks on the incessant closure of telecoms sites and the willful destruction of telecoms facilities, which he said resulted in poor service offerings. According to him, ALTON has made direct appeals to the Presidency, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police, the Director of State Services, the Minister of Communications Technologies, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC and other stakeholders to address and declare all telecommunications infrastructure as national critical security infrastructure. Adebayo sympathised with users of telecoms services for the ugly experience in telecoms service offerings. Agenda setting Adebayo is of the view that government must support industry growth and address the issue of multiple taxation, which he said has ravaged the telecoms sector. On his part, Ekuwem wants government to tackle the issue of insecurity in some quarters of the country, which he said, is affecting the rollout of telecoms facilities in such areas. He also wants government to boost infrastructural development and addresses the issue with Right of Way (RoW) as quickly as possible. He said all these challenges put together, are capable of impeding telecoms activities in the country. Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |