NCC Puts Telecom Investment at $4bn
From Cletus Akwaya in Abuja
Investments in Nigeria's telecommunications sector have risen to $4billion (about N560billion) as at June 2003, from a lowly $50 million level in 1999, an increase of over 500 per cent, National Communications Commission (NCC) has said.
Also, the world's telephone lines have grown to all time high of 2.5 billion lines with Africa accounting for a substantial share of new telephone lines among the developing economies of the world.
Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NCC, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at a workshop on telecommunications for officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). He said the sector has provided direct payroll jobs for about 150,000 Nigerians since 2001 in addition to several thousands other indirect employment opportunities arising from the operations of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) companies.
In a keynote address entitled 'Telecommunications and National Development', Ndukwe disclosed that telecom industry was contributing about $1.2 billion revenue annually, noting that the industry had become the second highest revenue earner after oil.
Quoting recent international studies on the impact of telecommunications to economic development, Ndukwe, whose paper was presented by Dr. Idika Ochaa, Head, Research, Education and Curriculum of Digital Bridge Institute, said for every $1 invested in provision of telecom infrastructure, there was a return of $6 in view of the relevance of the sector to economic growth of nations.
He said the number of phone lines had also increased phenomenally from a little over 400,000 lines in 1999 to over six million lines at the growth rate of an average one million lines per annum since 2001.The country's teledensity, he noted, had also risen to 3.5 for every 100 inhabitants.
At the global level, the NCC boss said China was contributing substantially to the total number of phone lines as the country had five million subscribers annually since 2003.
He said the global number of internet users had also increased with 68 million new internet users, putting the total of internet users at 580 million in 2003.
These local and international developments, Ndukwe explained, had combined to positively impact on national development as it is possible for instance, for universities to give students lectures concurrently at different locations through tele-video conferencing facilities among other advantages.
He said in view of the relevance of the industry, it was necessary to create awareness among men and officers of the Customs since most of the equipment and technology used in the telecom industry were imported into the country.
He charged the Customs to always scrutinise the imported telecom equipment at the ports to ensure they met the prescribed standards.
Chairman of the NCC, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, who was chairman of the occasion said the expansion in the telecom industry also meant increased volume of work for the Customs.
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