TECHDIGEST – The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy working with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) set an ambitious target when they projected that by 2025 Nigeria would have attained 70 per cent broadband penetration.

This target is striking because currently, broadband penetration stands at 42.27% per cent, consequently tasking the Ministry to more than double broadband penetration in the next five year.

As with all progressive policies and plans, there are those who conclude prematurely that things would not work or change.

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The same goes for the pessimistic remarks in some quarters that the 2025 target was dead on arrival, despite all evidence pointing to the fact that policymakers have what it takes to achieve the target this time.

The 70 per cent penetration target is clearly achievable especially when industry players consider that even with lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Per Capita Income, Kenya and Rwanda have far more impressive broadband penetration figures than Nigeria.

Well, the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), has received NCC and other stakeholders’ backing towards the national strategic mobilization for the actualization of the national broadband target of 70%.

The Association is planning to host a Conference and Exhibition with a theme – Realizing the new set target of 70% of Broadband Penetration.

The conference is slated for Thursday, June 9, 2022 at Chida Event Centre, Plot 224, Solomon Lar Way, Utako District, Abuja.

“We have received attendance confirmation of Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy; Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, EVC/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner, Nigeria Data Protection Bureau respectively. Other industry thought leaders are also expected to grace the event”, Engr Ikechukwu Nnamani ,President ATCON, said in an email to TechEconomy.ng.

How to participate:

Participation is free, but you are required to pre-register via the link here on or before Friday, June 3, 2022.

Source : Techeconomy ng

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TECHDIGEST – Over 101 million telecommunication subscribers risk disconnection if the December 31 deadline for the National Identity Number and Subscriber Identity Module data verification is not extended.

A source in the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria told our correspondent on Friday that only about 90 million subscribers had linked their SIMs to their NINs.

According to the source, the association and the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, are currently discussing the likelihood of an extension.

“We are speaking with the minister and the NCC, we have not done much. We have only been able to link about 90 million SIMs with their NINs. An extension is likely, because if not, many subscribers would be disenfranchised.”

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, there were 229,582,206 connected lines in Nigeria in October, and only 191,618,839 lines were active.

The President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Ikechukwu Nnamani, said the government would review its activities before deciding on whether to extend the deadline.

He said, “I believe the last statistics from the minister is that over 70 million Nigerians have been captured at NIN, which is a great progress from where it was two years ago.

“So, that is commendable. As always, the government will review what is outstanding and make a decision if the deadline should be extended or not.”

According to the President of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, an extension is necessary until 80 per cent of subscribers have been captured under the SIM-NIN exercise.

He said, “It is about seven days to the end of the deadline; I want to implore the ministry to engage ALTON and ATCON on how much progress they’ve made.

“If it covers a minimum of 80 per cent of subscribers, we are good to go. But if it is less, we are pleading for an extension. Depending on how far we have come, the extension might be needed. A minimum of 80 per cent of the total number of subscribers must be achieved first.”

While announcing an extension to the SIM-NIN deadline in October, the NCC and the Nigeria Identity Management Commission said in a statement that 66 million unique NINs had been captured.

Pantami had on December 10, 2021 said over 70 million unique NINs had been captured.

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TECH DIGEST – Stakeholders in the telecommunication sector have said mobile money services should be driven by telecoms companies, a position that runs contrary to that of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In its recently released ‘Regulatory Framework for Mobile Money Services in Nigeria’, the CBN said there shall be only two models for the implementation of mobile money services in Nigeria.

They are the bank-led, where a bank and/or its consortium will serve as the lead initiator; and the non-bank-led, where a corporate organisation duly licensed by the CBN will serve as the lead initiator.

However, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, told our correspondent that the new CBN models would slow down financial inclusion penetration.

He said, “We think penetration will be slow. We are convinced that we are the industry with the ready infrastructure all over the country. If you talk about mobile penetration, use of mobile phones for financial service, the last mile is actually by the operators.

“The last mile to reach the people is by the operators. We are of the view that penetration would be slower than it should. We think the CBN should consider operators which are interested in offering these services.

“For the sake of speedy coverage and easy access, we are of the view that if operators are allowed to play well in that space, it will improve penetration and inclusion for more people.”

Adebayo said for rapid coverage and full inclusion, mobile operators would have to take the lead.

According to the CBN, telcos will provide the infrastructure needed to drive the exchange of messages for mobile payments. Even though the CBN allows for a non-bank-led model, telcos are not to be considered.

The CBN, in its mobile money regulatory policy, said, “The introduction of mobile telephony in Nigeria, its rapid growth and adoption and the identification of person-to-person payments as a practical strategy for financial inclusion, has made it imperative to adopt the mobile channel as a means of driving financial inclusion of the unbanked.”

Speaking of the non-bank-led model, the CBN said, “This model allows a corporate organisation that has been duly licensed by the CBN to deliver mobile money services to customers.

“The lead initiator shall be a corporate organisation (other than a deposit money bank, a national primary mortgage bank, a national microfinance bank or a telecommunication company) specifically licensed by the CBN to provide mobile money services in Nigeria.”

The Chairman, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Ikechukwu Nnamani, indicated that the CBN should have taken a cue from the success of M-Pesa by Safaricom in Kenya.

He said, “The CBN has decided to go the route where telcos are not taking the lead. Following the most successful example of mobile money in Africa, which is the Safaricom M-Pesa experiment, we had believed that making it telco-led would lead to greater adoption because a lot of people are already on the telecom platform.

“Making it telecom-led would have led to faster adoption; today we have more telecom subscribers than people in the banking industry, but in CBN’s wisdom, they still feel it is better to keep making it bank-led. So, all we would do for now is see how to work together with the banking industry to make financial inclusion something that is very much available to Nigerians.”

He said the rate of adoption would depend on how the telecom industry and financial industry work together.

According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, there were 160,038,000 bank accounts in Nigeria as of May 2020.

The four major telecom companies in Nigeria had 191,934,138 subscribers in May 2020, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission.

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TECH DIGEST – The Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), today called on the private sector players in the country’s Information and Communications Technology industry to complement the government’s efforts in order to achieve the 70 percent broadband penetration target.

The President of ATCON, Engr Ikechukwu Nnamani, who made the call at a virtual structured engagement with key stakeholders in the Nigerian Telecom & ICT sector on the new national broadband plan 2020 – 2025, said the call becomes necessary owing to the visible benefits of broadband, especially in a digital economy, which is vigorously being pursued by the federal government.

“With Nigeria’s broadband penetration increasing by 10% over the previous year from 33.3% to 43.3%, we are encouraging every segment of the sector to double their efforts in terms of encouraging further penetration so that we can surpass that of 2020. This we must do as private sector players to support all the government’s efforts,” Engr. Nnamani said in his welcome address.

Commending Dr. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy for his tireless efforts towards resolving key challenges facing the industry and also advocating for the speedy implementation of the national broadband plan, the ATCON President noted that the high-powered virtual event is put together to have a conversation around the New National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 with a view to ascertaining the status of the implementation.

He added that the event would also help the industry identify any bottlenecks to the successful implementation of the New National Broadband Plan that may still exist, and proffering lasting solutions to issues that are likely to constitute an obstacle to the eventual realization of the 70% Broadband penetration target.

Dr. Isa Pantami, had last year announced that Nigeria’s broadband penetration increased by 10% over the previous year, from 33.3% to 43.3%. he promised that with the government’s policies and programmes, it is hoped that 2021 penetration would surpass that of 2020.

The virtual structured engagement with key stakeholders in the Nigerian Telecom & ICT sector on the new national broadband plan 2020 – 2025, which was organized by ATCON was well attended by all stakeholders in the industry.

Notable among the stakeholders are the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Umar Danbatta, Director-General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mr. Kashifu Inuwa and Director-General/CEO, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Aziz Abubakar.

Others are CEOs of companies such as Huawei, Liquid Telecom, Galaxy Backbone, Broadbase Communication, MainOne, Airtel Networks, Medallion Communications, NIGCOMSAT, PPC, ATC, VDT Communications, Rack Center and IpNX.

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