The Nigerian telecom sector now generates a whopping N480 billion for the federal government every quarter, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami has disclosed.
The Minister, who disclosed this yesterday at a press briefing organised to provide updates on the status of the 5 percent excise duty, said the telecom sector, which hitherto generated N51 billion to the federal government confers, now does N480 per quarter.
“The sector has increased its quarterly revenue generation for the government from N51 billion to over N480 billion, representing a growth of 594 percent,” he said.
He also disclosed that the cost of buying data has reduced from N1,200 in 2019 to N350 presently, despite the increase in the cost of operations, including the energy challenge that has caused mobile network operators to power base stations with over 32,000 power generating to provide seamless services to their teeming consumers.
According to him, the Digital Economy Sector has continued to contribute significantly to the growth of the Nigerian economy, having contributed 14.07 percent to the GDP in the first quarter of 2020; 17.79 percent in the second quarter of 2021; and 18.44 percent in the second quarter of 2022.
ITPulse in one of its reports, cited the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry contributes 18.94% to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of the second quarter of 2022. The Telecommunications sector alone, which is majorly regulated by the NCC currently contributed 15% to GDP as of the second quarter of 2022 up from 8.5% in 2015 when Danbatta came on board.
That same report revealed that in 2001, investment in the country’s telecom sector was less than $500 million. Even in 2015 when Danbatta assumed office, the investment profile was $38. This has risen to over $70 billion. Also, active telecoms subscribers today are 208 million from about 400,000 aggregate telephone lines in the country as of 2000. This represents a teledensity of 109.47%. Basic Internet subscriptions grew from zero ground to 152 million currently while broadband subscriptions stand at 85 million, representing a 44.49% penetration as of July 2022.