Nigeria’s Telecoms Sector Investments Bigger Than Ghana, Cameroon GDP After Surprise Surge To $75bn

Investments in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector has grown to over $75bn which is now more than the GDP of many African countries.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Umar Danbatta revealed this in Kano while
unveiled achievements between 2015 to 2023.

He said, “From 8 per cent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015, telecommunications sector now contributes 16 per cent quarterly to the Nigerian economy as of the second quarter of 2023.

“Following the authorization of more telecommunications companies to operate in the Nigeria’s telecoms sector, the investments profile has increased tremendously from $38 billion in 2015 to $75 billion currently and this keeps growing daily. From the sales of Fifth Generation (5G) C-Band Spectrum, the NCC has generated over $847.8 million for the Federal Government.”

Cameroon GDP is $44bn, Senegal $27bn, Tunisia $46bn, Mali 18bn, Niger $14bn, while Ghana GDP was about $72.8bn in 2022.

Danbatta said the national target to achieve 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025 is receiving renewed attention from the NCC which targets 50 per cent before the end of 2023.

According to him, Fifth Generation (5G) services subscriptions have already hit 500 000 in subscription.

“While we acknowledge the challenges encountered by the industry, we have also witnessed explosive growth, improved regulatory standards, and digital innovations that have garnered global recognition,” he said.

Currently, active telephone subscribers have increased from less than 150.7 million to 218.9 million, representing a teledensity growth of 115.70 per cent from 107.87 per cent in 2015.

Through stimulating broadband infrastructure across the country, Danbatta said broadband penetration, which stood at 6 per cent in 2015 has increased significantly to 47.01 per cent as of July, 2023, enhancing over 89.73 million subscriptions on 3G, 4G and 5G networks in the country.

Internet subscriptions have reached 159.5 million up from less than 100 million in 2015.