The Telecom regulator, the Nigeria Telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communication (NCC) has said that its decision to revert to market driven pricing has attracted $1 billion new telecoms infrastructure investment in 2025.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr Aminu Maida who disclosed this in Lagos during an interactive session with reporters said the move has restored investors confidence, reversed years of under investment and service quality improvement.
He noted that as a result, industry players that have not invested in the sector in the last three years have started doing so.
He explained that MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria and Mafab Communications underestimated the huge challenges that came with the rollout of the fifth generation (5G) technology.
He said the mobile network operators (MNOs) that got the licences “over-promised” to deliver services to their consumers, without minding challenges in the industry.
He further stated that the 50 per cent tariff hike for end users of telecom services approved by the NCC to MNOs earlier in the year has resulted in an uptick in both local and foreign investment.
Highlighting the reasons why tariff increase has failed to translate to improved service quality, the EVC explained that the delay was from the point of manufacturing as it manufacture of the equipment and the process of bringing them into the country has to pass through a process.
In his explanation he said “MNOs would need to book, pay, ship, pay for clearing at the ports, transport to sites, install and commission before customers would start feeling the impact.”
According to him, as of June operators have already started receiving new equipment they ordered and upgrades and new site construction are underway, adding that the fresh investments will boost capacity, improve service quality in the country and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global telecom space.
He added that installing the equipment across the country will take time, as the process of installation has started in North Central and Abuja.
He pointed out that since the rollout of the technology in the country, less than 2000 5G sites have been built across the country, a situation he blamed on a combination of factors including access to forex and difficulty securing land for new cell sites.
He told journalists that the Commission decided in January to allow market forces determine the prices charged by operators for telecom services, noting that the TowerCos (tower companies) had effected adjustment in their pricing but the MNOs had not.
He said the adjustment granted the operators in a new wave of competition in the industry such that some are beginning to accuse themselves of undercutting the system.
On infrastructure protection, Maida said the NCC is working with the Office of the National Security Adviser to design region-specific rapid response frameworks, blending community engagement with civil defence presence to tackle threats such as generator theft, poor security, and local disputes.
On low local content in the telecoms industry, the EVC said globally, only three countries are responsible for supply of low level software and hardware used. The countries are China which boasts of Huawei and ZTE; Finland with Nokia and Sweden with Ericsson.