Nigeria has achieved 33 percent broadband penetration, NCC says

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Wednesday, said the country has achieved 33 percent broadband penetration in the telecommunications industry as at February, 2019.

This was announced by the Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta in Abuja during a courtesy visit by the management of Airtel, adding that the feat was far above the projections of the regulatory body.

Prof Danbatta, who explained that the feat was achieved courtesy of the National Broadband Plan, said the details of the development would soon be given by the Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu.

The Airtel team was led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for Africa, Mr Raqhunath Mandura.

Read also: Refineries operational deficit increased to N132.5bn in 2018

Danbatta said: “It is good to see Airtel providing services, especially 4G services.

“It is good to hear the level of expansion because we are seeing a remarkable improvement in broadband penetration.

“The figures are increasingly going up. We are at about 33% now.  This we can attribute to a very ambitious expansion of network operators like Airtel in places like Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Ibadan, Abuja. This lends credence to figures we are seeing from broadband penetration.

“We are seeing an increase in broadband subscription, especially to services provided by Airtel.

“It is good for Nigerians to hear this that Airtel is helping us to hit the broadband penetration target.

“We were supposed to achieve 30% as at December 2018 but we have exceeded that target courtesy of National Broadband Plan.

“We are steadily seeing an increase in broadband penetration. As of February, there is a new target of 70% in the next five years.  We will come up with new.

“So far, no official announcement has been made on that by the minister.

“I am sure government will come up with an official announcement on the new National Broadband Plan, Phase 2.

”In the area of data usage, there is also steady increase in data usage. We are again seeing that from 4G  network services.

“It is important to talk about other statistics. As at February 2019, we had 174million Nigerians had access to telecom voice services. And the number is steadily rising.

Internet penetration too in real terms is 100milion.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now