Over 40 million Nigerians can’t access telecom service

Over 40 million Nigerians still can’t access telecommunication service due to the inability of service providers to reach rural regions.

The Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, disclosed this at the emerging technologies research and ICT forum, with the theme, ‘Developing Nigeria’s tech ecosystem: Imperative for improving local content.’

Dantatta said for the telecommunication sector to grow people in the rural areas must be able to access telecom service.

He said, “We are addressing this deficit in two ways. One is to address the infrastructural deficit in the long term. In the short term, we need to deploy more and base transceiver stations.

“At the main time, the base transmitter stations are about 58,000; and that is not enough for a population of about 190 million.”

Danbatta added, “At an average of 10 base transmitter stations per year, it is going to take this country 20 years to bridge the gap and bring telecommunications services to people living in the rural areas.

“People living in the rural areas don’t have the patience to wait for 20 years. So, we are looking at rural technology solutions that can bridge the gap in two years. This is on-going,” he added.