Nigeria, part of a collection of countries whose population have an increasing need and demand for ICT have seen a rise in the past few years in their adoption of both broadband services and mobile phones subscriptions. Since 2011, mobile subscription have gone from 68.5 percent of the population to 83% in 2013. Similarly, the use of internet services has risen from 29% in 2011 to 36% in 2013. These rises have fueled the countries desire to invest heavily in their telecoms infrastructure, in order to keep pace with the rest of the world and offer the economic opportunities that come with it.
The Nigerian Minister for Communication and Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson has now made it known that they are finalising a loan of $6 billion, which will largely be used to improve the country’s telecoms infrastructure. This means building more base stations, which allows people to connect with the telecoms providers from more locations. It also means that the base stations that are lost to continued bombings and flooding will not affect as many residents as it has in the past – allowing them to connect to another base station instead.
The loan is seen as a much needed instrument in overcoming the barriers that have plagued the growth of the industry and base station development. Mrs Johnson referred to “Delays and operational costs, due to multiple regulation and unstandardised application” as the main protagonists behind the developments, also citing separately that crime and vandalism were to blame.
We’re currently unsure when the loan and the effects of the loan will be seen, but this is surely good news for Nigerian telecoms and those that want to phone Nigeria as well.
Article by Darren Kingman