The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has attributed the rise in the number of uptakes in different types of telecommunications services to lockdowns and restrictions occasioned by the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.
The NCC took this position yesterday by its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta in his welcome speech at the occasion of the presentation of grants to winners of digital solutions to Covid-19 Hackathon in Abuja.
“Telecommunications/ICTs have taken the centre stage in the provision or advancement of solutions about how best to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. This may be the reason why the number of uptakes in different types of telecommunications services has continued to rise in spite of lockdowns and restrictions occasioned by the pandemic,” he said.
For instance, the former University Don, who should know better, disclosed that the number of active subscribers in Nigeria has continued to rise as the figures of the last eight months show increases from 184 Million in December 2019 to 199.3 Million in May 2020.
According to him, that also affects Internet subscriptions as the numbers in the same period has grown from 126 Million subscribers to 147.1 Million, while broadband subscription has improved from 72 Million to 80.2 million, achieving a 42.02 percent penetration in the country.
He said these uptakes have given impetus to the possibility of holding virtual meetings and conferences on video technologies that are now providing social distancing solutions.
To appraise the impact or role that telecommunications/ICTs plays in addressing this COVID-19 pandemic, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) had noted that more than any other event in human history, the critical importance that telecommunications infrastructure plays in keeping businesses, governments, and societies connected and running as the economic and social disruptions caused by the pandemic have made people across the globe to rely on technology for information, for social distancing, and working from home.
IFC believes that working from home has become a new normal made possible by ICTs, as innovations in telecommunications has to a large extent, provided the best link for humanity to share available solutions in navigating the challenges of the pandemic.