The Association of Licenced Telecommunication Organisation of Nigeria (ALTON) is set to celebrate achievements and milestones in the telecom industry at its 20-Anniversary, which will hold tomorrow in Lagos.
Rolling out the achievements yesterday at a press conference in Lagos, the Chairman of ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo noted that 20 years after the liberalization of the telecom sector in Nigeria, the country has moved from one cellular mobile network with limited coverage and 26,500 connected lines to 4 GSM operators, 2 VoIP operators, 4 Fixed Wired operators with 172.9mn mobile subscriptions & teledensity at 123.5 percent.
“After 20 years, Nigeria boasts of over N15trn contribution to its economy, over 123mn internet subscriptions across various technology platforms (e.g. VoIP, GSM & Fixed Wired), sector contribution to GDP at 11.4 percent and over USD68bn Foreign Direct Investment. This is worth celebrating,” he said.
He added that Nigeria is today Africa’s largest telecoms market in terms of subscriptions, stressing that beyond growth in sheer numerical terms, telecoms have evolved from being a sparsely-available public utility to becoming a ‘social overhead capital’.
The ALTON 20-Anniversary and award ceremony is billed to hold tomorrow in Lagos. The umbrella body of all licenced telecom operators in Nigeria will honour all those who have contributed to the growth of the sector.