Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has listed the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the telecom sector, noting that the digital economy is one of the major achievements of the administration and the rapid expansion of broadband access has been a game changer.
He listed what he said are the biggest contribution of the digital economy to Nigeria’s economic growth, including the deployment of 5G technology and the exponential growth of the following Nigerian tech unicorns: Flutterwave, O-Pay, Andela, Interswitch, Jumia, Piggyvest, and Paystack.
The Vice President who disclosed this during the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja, said in August 2019, the broadband coverage was 33.7% and today it is 44.65%, representing close to 13 million new broadband users. There were 13,823 4G base stations and we now have 36,751, representing a 165.86% increase.
“The percentage of 4G coverage across the country also increased from 23% to 77.52%. The expansion has also been helped by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy directly engaging the.”
He then spoke about Nigeria’s 5G ambition, pointing out the benefits of the fifth-generation network and how it will contribute to Nigeria’s economic growth.
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“We now have Presidential approval for the 5G policy. In terms of density, 4G allows connection to about 1 million devices in 500 square kilometers, while 5G will allow the same number of devices in just 1 square kilometer. There are also very fast data rates of the 5G and more efficient energy usage.”
The Vice President went on to assert that the cost of data has crashed from N1,200 per GB in 2019 to about N360 today, thus making it easier for Nigerians to connect to the Internet.
“Now the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has embarked on the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone II, (NICTIB II) to connect 20 States with fiber optics that had not been connected in NICTIB I.”
It would be recalled that the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said that Nigeria’s broadband penetration recorded a quantum leap in the last 7 months from November 2021 to May 2022, with a record of 7 million new subscriptions.
Danbatta said: “Internet subscribers have grown from 90 million in 2015 to 150.36 million as of May 2022. Also, within the period under review, broadband penetration increased from 8% to 43.67%, indicating that over 83.3 million subscribers are on broadband networks of 3G and 4G. Indeed, between November 2021 and May 2022, the networks have added 7 million new users.”
“It is our belief that the communications industry will continue to experience more quantum leaps that will be beneficial to the nation’s economy and its citizens.”