The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has declared that the ban on the importation of whole-body Subscriber Identification Module (SIM), as part of the drive for local content development, remains a key achievement that was initiated by it.
This was as the Commission assured of its commitment to the Federal Government’s drive to place the Nigerian economy on a sustainable pedestal through the necessary policies put in place.
The NCC noted that not only did the ban on SIM importation eased demand for foreign exchange (FX) by the sector but, it created a local opportunity of over N55 billion for the local SIM card manufacturers in Nigeria, but, equally created direct and indirect jobs.
Prof Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, who announced these at the NTICE 2023 Expo in Lagos, said that the ban was announced at the maiden edition of the expo in 2022.
Danbatta expressed NCC’s commitment towards supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and innovators to promote talented young persons and ventures through angel investments, R&D support, exposure to investors and sponsorship to local and international tech events.
Represented by the NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Mr Ubale Maska, Danbatta said the Nigerian telecoms sector is amongst the biggest contributors to the socio-economic growth of the country as evidenced by the numerous achievements of the sector.
The NCC boss said with Nigeria’s rich history of innovation, resilience, and creativity as well as its diverse culture, talents, and perspectives have birthed solutions that uniquely cater to the nation’s challenges and aspirations.
In the words of Danbatta; “It is not out of place to mention that the sector’s performance was instrumental in lifting Nigeria out of recession with a 12.45 per cent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q4 2020.
“This figure increased to 14.13 per cent as at Q1 2023. The Sector is also home to two of the most valuable listed companies in Nigeria with a collective market capitalization over N10.45 trillion,” he said.
He further said that the Commission in 2021 and 2022, generated revenue of over $820 million from the auction and grant of 3.5GHz spectrum band licences to three operators to boost the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) services in Nigeria.
Danbatta noted that the development placed Nigeria on the global 5G map ahead of many countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The NCC’s boss also said; “It is also important to note that while Quality of Service and Quality of Experience in telecommunications services in Nigeria have continued to improve, tariffs have remained stable notwithstanding the increase in cost-of-service provision to the telecom operators.
“To sustain and further improve the quality of service and quality of experience in telecommunications services in Nigeria, we must embrace indigenous content and value creation within the telecoms value chain, otherwise, an increase in telecoms tariff will be inevitable.
“When we created the Nigeria Office for Development of Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS) as a Special Purpose Vehicle under the commission to drive the National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications sector in July 2021, the Office was given four areas of focus: Manufacturing, Human Capacity, Research and Development (R&D) and Software and Services development for the telecoms sector.
“Today, I am happy to inform you that NTICE is one of the achievements of NCC through NODITS because it has served not only to promote pillar number five (Strategic Partnering) of the Strategic Management Plan SMP 2020- 2024 of the Commission but has also become the flagship indigenous content event for the industry,” Danbatta said.
He also said that Commission has incentivised the manufacturing of Corrugated Optic Duct (COD) that will be used to protect the nation’s fibre infrastructure from the incessant cuts experienced by service providers.