Nigeria’s telecom access gaps drop by 53%

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The number of identified areas in Nigeria without access to telecommunications services has been reduced by 53.1 per cent as of the end of 2022, according to Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

This information was shared during a recent telecoms industry stakeholders forum in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. The statement was signed by Reuben Muoka, the Head of Public Affairs at the NCC.

Representing Professor Danbatta at the forum, Usman Mamman, the Head of Pre-Licensing at the Commission, stated that there were 207 clusters of access gaps in 2013.

However, by the end of 2022, this number had decreased to 97, bridging a total of 110 clusters of access gaps and resulting in a 53.1 per cent reduction. Consequently, the number of Nigerians residing within these access gaps, estimated at 37 million in 2013, had been reduced to 27 million due to increased access to telecommunications services.

The statement clarified that access gaps refer to clusters of communities or grouped areas across the country that lack access to telecom services. The NCC has successfully reduced the number of access gap clusters by over half.

Professor Danbatta stated, “We have worked tirelessly to ensure we bring telecom services to people living in rural, unserved, and underserved areas of this country, totalling 37 million people, courtesy of the consultancy that was conducted in 2013.”

He further explained the progress made: “By 2019, we had succeeded in reducing the clusters of access gaps to 114 through the deployment of the necessary infrastructure needed to bring services to people living in rural, unserved, and underserved areas of the country.

The deployment of infrastructure is in terms of base transceiver stations, which resulted in the reduction of Nigerians in those clusters from 37 million to 31 million in 2019.”

Continuing the efforts, he stated, “By 2022, we have reduced the clusters of access gaps to 97 from 207 in 2013. The number of Nigerians again has come down from 37 million in 2013 to 27 million as we speak. We achieved this by deploying, from 2009 to 2011, a total of 79 new base transceiver stations.”

Professor Danbatta highlighted that between 2013 and 2018, an additional 124 base transceiver stations were deployed in the telecom sector, and from 2019 to 2022, a total of 364 base transceiver stations were deployed. The cumulative deployment of base transceiver stations from the identification of access gaps until the end of 2022 amounted to 567.

While acknowledging the reduction in access gaps as a significant achievement, Professor Danbatta emphasized that the Commission would not be complacent. Efforts would continue to ensure that the remaining 27 million Nigerians without access to telecom services are provided with connectivity.

Regarding regulatory interventions to bridge the remaining 97 access gaps nationwide and achieve ubiquitous connectivity, the EVC mentioned the issuance of Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) licenses and the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) networks, among other initiatives.

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