Q2: Nigeria swells telecom sector GDP with N1.5tn

ITRealms:

The Nigerian telecommunications sector has swelled the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2017, to the tune of N1.549 trillion, reports ITRealms.

Disclosing this in Abuja, while receiving the chairperson of Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) Madam Angelique Weeks, during a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta said, telecoms sector contributed N1.549 trillion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year.

He explained that this figure represents 6.68 per cent increase from the first quarter of the year, which was at N1.452 trillion.

Danbatta also said these figures were derived from recently released National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report on the economy.

According ot him, NBS report confirmed that the telecommunications sector, during the second quarter of 2017, contributed 9.5 per cent to the GDP in contrast to 9.1 per cent contribution in the first quarter of the year. 

“We are very proud of the remarkable contribution the sector is making. Even at the recent times when the whole economy was facing challenges, the sector had remained resilient and stable,” he told the visitor who was accompanied by a team of administrators from West Africa Telecommunication Regulators Association (WATRA).

Similarly, the NCC boss told the visitors that the commission has also noticed a remarkable increase in the data usage in the country.

“The monthly data usage is about 40 million terabytes,” he declared, expressing optimism that the country would undergo a massive ICT transformation by the time the excess data capacity at landing point in Lagos is deployed to the hinterland through licensing of infrastructure companies (infracos).

Further, Danbatta noted that the broadband penetration in the country currently stands at 21 per cent, as Nigeria is inching toward 30 per cent penetration next year, which is in line with its National Broadband target.

The commission, he said, has approved spectrum trading consistent with an item of the 8-Point Agenda, optimizing the use and benefits of spectrum, to ensure that no acquired spectrum is left unutilized.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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