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Monday,
October 19, 2020 / 8.20AM / Bukola Akinyele for WebTV / Header Image Credit: NBCC
Despite
achieving double-digit growth in Q2, 2020 the telecommunications sector will
require robust broadband infrastructure investments in Nigeria, to achieve
scale and productivity for the economy.
This
was part of the takeaways from the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) webinar which discussed "Nigeria's
Telecommunication Industry-POST COVID" and brought together experts and
stakeholders in the sector.
Giving the opening remarks the Deputy President of
the NBCC Mrs. Bisi Adeyemi on behalf of the President said COVID-19 has
become one of the unprecedented events in history and brought to the fore the
role of the telecommunication industry as a result of a general reduction in
economic activities.
According to her people across the world have
relied on technology to deal with the socio-economic realities which include
working from home and leveraging video conferencing platforms for meetings and
conferences.
The NBCC Deputy President acknowledged the fact
that telecommunications has emerged as a key growth driver in the economy, and
the forum hosted by the chamber was designed to provide an opportunity to push
for a robust and enabling business environment for the industry to thrive and
achieve accelerated growth.
In his presentation, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, Chief
Executive Officer and Managing Director Airtel Nigeria. admitted that during
the early months of the pandemic with a total lockdown revenue for telecom firms
dipped.
Speaking further, he said they also faced an
initial reduction in consumer spending on services and products. According to
him, the developments led to a paradigm shift to online engagements for
social and economic activities.
Airtel's CEO also noted that there was a rise in
demand for "data services" in the wake of the lockdown, an increase in capital
expenditure and a decline in revenue for businesses due to a decrease in
socio-economic activities.
From an economic perspective, Ogunsanya noted that
the economic impact of the pandemic spanned five (5) key areas including GDP,
Inflation rate, Crude-Oil price, Exchange rate and the Budget.
According to him, the GDP in Q1,2020 grew by 1.87%
Pre-COVID-19 but contracted by -6.10% in Q2,2020.
He also highlighted additional economic indicators
like the Inflation rate which increased from 12.26% Pre-COVID to 13.22% as of
August 2020, the crude-oil price which crashed due to low demand, the
official exchange rate which moved up from N306 per USD$ post-COVID-19 t0 N380
per USD$ post-COVID-19. The revised budget adjusted benchmark oil price from
USD$57 to USD$28.
Ogunsanya highlighted the key areas that were impacted by social restriction to include;
In terms of how Airtel Nigeria has supported the
economy, he said the telecommunications company has supported Lagos state,
donated money to the national efforts at combatting COVID-19, provided
testing kits and PPE materials and has also supported the Nigerian Centre for
Disease Control, NCDC.
Looking ahead he said the outlook for the economy
depends on flattening the curve: limiting the number of new cases, fighting the
virus: balancing lives & Livelihood, restarting the economy, addressing the
virus through a vaccine and exploring herd immunity.
On the outlook for the telecommunication industry
Post pandemic, he said broadband will be vital to the growth of the industry
from mobile, fibre optics, wireless, & analytics.
This will enable the following processes;
The Airtel Nigeria CEO stressed the need for
fibres and wireless networks in other to boost internet access which has become
a key necessity next to shelter, clothing and food.
He stressed the importance of data privacy,
strengthening the protocols to prevent breaches that hurt businesses,
maintaining and improving brand value, maintaining public, investor and
customer trust, and supporting best practices & ethics.
According to him "The ultimate objective is to
reduce the digital divide of those who have access to the internet and those
who don't have".
"Airtel's role is to continue to deepen the
penetration of broadband in line with the agenda of the federal government.
This is good for telco's, the economy and everyone to create digital access
which opens responsibilities to so many people from farmers, SMEs and big
companies, which is an imperative that needs to be worked on".
He made a strong point that access to the internet
is an enabler for providing equal opportunities to small and big companies alike.
Engineer Babagana Digima who represented
Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive
Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said Nigeria is one of the
largest markets in Africa, and also the biggest segment is the information and
communication sector of the economy.
In his presentation, Engineer Babagana Digima said
as of March 2020 the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria the Nigerian
telecom industry had a teledensity of 99.09% and an internet penetration of
39.85%.
As of today, based on the August 2020 data the
teledensity according to the NCC official was 106.62% while the
broadband penetration was 43.3%.
He noted that Teledensity, broadband penetration,
number of subscriptions and population coverage were some of the key indices
recognized by the international telecommunications union (ITU) as a measure of
economic development for nations.
He informed stakeholders that the total
contribution of the telecom sector to the GDP of Nigeria increased from 10.88%
in Q1, 2020 to 14.3% in Q2, 2020. He said the contribution of the telecom
sector to the growth of the economy and well-being of the country is set to
continue, as well-articulated policies of the federal ministry of communication
and digital economy take shape.
Speaking further, he noted that the plan
recognized 70% of local government headquarters and 60% of all base
transceiver stations are to be connected with fibre as well as local
manufacturing and assembling of three smartphones in the country.
Giving further details on the policy, he stated
that the Minister of Communication has set out digital innovation, digital
entrepreneurship and digital skills as key areas that will be given high
priority.
Also, he noted that the commission's actions such
as permitting the provision of mobile money services has resulted in the
licensing of several payment service banks which are now helping towards the
actualization of the 80% financial inclusion target of the federal government.
According to him, the telecoms sector during this
pandemic in no doubt has managed to keep people connected, informed,
entertained and enlightened on the disease which has helped in curtailing its
spread.
He was optimistic that with the emphasis by
the government for the development of the telecommunications infrastructure,
the pandemic has brought the urgency on such interventions as doing
business online is the new normal.
Digma said the country has accelerated the
licensing of a new spectrum to usher in new technologies like 5G, TV Wide space
broadband, corporate governance, satellite services and altitude platform
services to address the telecom's infrastructure and services.
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