Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has announced that Nigeria’s Fifth Generation network subscription has reached half a million. He also stated that broadband penetration would reach 47.01 percent by July 2023.
In a statement issued while speaking in Kano, he said that the telecoms industry has reached significant milestones since 2015. Danbatta claimed that the country’s 5G subscriptions had increased to over 60,000 in July. According to him, the country’s goal was to reach 50% internet penetration by the end of 2023 and 70% broadband penetration by the end of 2025.
“Also, from 8% contribution to GDP in 2015, the telecommunications sector now contributes 16% quarterly to the Nigerian economy as at the second quarter of this year,” he stated in a statement.
“Moreover, following the authorization of more telecommunications companies to operate in Nigeria’s telecoms sector, the investment profile has increased tremendously from $38 billion in 2015 to $75 billion today, and this is growing daily,” he stated. The NCC has raised about $847.8 million for the federal government from the sale of 5G C-Band Spectrum.
Earlier, Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, stated that the country was looking for collaborations to improve telecommunications access in unserved and underserved communities. Connectivity, according to the minister, was a driver for prosperity, and the country required partnerships to reduce the digital divide.
