Monday,October 19, 2020 / 8.20AM / Bukola Akinyele for WebTV / Header Image Credit: NBCC

Despiteachieving double-digit growth in Q2, 2020 the telecommunications sector willrequire robust broadband infrastructure investments in Nigeria, to achievescale and productivity for the economy.

Thiswas part of the takeaways from the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) webinar which discussed "Nigeria'sTelecommunication Industry-POST COVID" and brought together experts andstakeholders in the sector.

Giving the opening remarks the Deputy President ofthe NBCC Mrs. Bisi Adeyemi on behalf of the President said COVID-19 hasbecome one of the unprecedented events in history and brought to the fore therole of the telecommunication industry as a result of a general reduction ineconomic activities.

According to her people across the world haverelied on technology to deal with the socio-economic realities which includeworking from home and leveraging video conferencing platforms for meetings andconferences.

The NBCC Deputy President acknowledged the factthat telecommunications has emerged as a key growth driver in the economy, andthe forum hosted by the chamber was designed to provide an opportunity to pushfor a robust and enabling business environment for the industry to thrive andachieve accelerated growth.

In his presentation, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, ChiefExecutive Officer and Managing Director Airtel Nigeria. admitted that duringthe early months of the pandemic with a total lockdown revenue for telecom firmsdipped.

Speaking further, he said they also faced aninitial reduction in consumer spending on services and products. According tohim, the developments led to a  paradigm shift to online engagements forsocial and economic activities.

Airtel's CEO also noted that there was a rise indemand for "data services" in the wake of the lockdown, an increase in capitalexpenditure and a decline in revenue for businesses due to a decrease insocio-economic activities.

From an economic perspective, Ogunsanya noted thatthe economic impact of the pandemic spanned five (5) key areas including GDP,Inflation rate, Crude-Oil price, Exchange rate and the Budget. 

According to him, the GDP in Q1,2020 grew by 1.87%Pre-COVID-19 but contracted by -6.10% in Q2,2020.

He also highlighted additional economic indicatorslike the Inflation rate which increased from 12.26% Pre-COVID to 13.22% as ofAugust 2020, the crude-oil price which crashed due to low demand, theofficial exchange rate which moved up from N306 per USD$ post-COVID-19 t0 N380per USD$ post-COVID-19. The revised budget adjusted benchmark oil price fromUSD$57 to USD$28.

Ogunsanya highlighted the  key areas thatwere impacted by social restriction to include;

1. SocialRestriction
2. Anxiety& Mental Health
3. Hunger& Deprivation
4. Insecurity
5. IncreasedSelf-Medication
6. IncreasedSocial Responsibility  

In terms of how Airtel Nigeria has supported theeconomy, he said the telecommunications company has supported Lagos state, donated money to the national efforts at combatting COVID-19, providedtesting kits and PPE materials and has also supported the Nigerian Centre forDisease Control, NCDC.

Looking ahead he said the outlook for the economydepends on flattening the curve: limiting the number of new cases, fighting thevirus: balancing lives & Livelihood, restarting the economy, addressing thevirus through a vaccine and exploring herd immunity. 

On the outlook for the telecommunication industryPost pandemic, he said broadband will be vital to the growth of the industryfrom mobile, fibre optics, wireless, & analytics.

This will enable the following processes;

• The ability to work from anywhere
• Virtualcollaboration tools & streaming applications
• Thesurge of internet subscribers
• FromCoverage/ Capacity to customer experience
• IncreasingCapital Expenditure
• Theemergence of Niche ISP Fibre Operation
• Digitalaccess which  is still heavily skewed towards  wireless which isshared resources

The Airtel Nigeria CEO stressed the need forfibres and wireless networks in other to boost internet access which has becomea key necessity next to shelter, clothing and food.  

He stressed the importance of data privacy,strengthening the protocols to prevent breaches that hurt businesses, maintaining and improving brand value, maintaining public, investor andcustomer trust, and supporting best practices & ethics. 

According to him "The ultimate objective is toreduce the digital divide of those who have access to the internet and thosewho don't have".

"Airtel's role is to continue to deepen thepenetration of broadband in line with the agenda of the federal government.This is good for telco's, the economy and everyone to create digital accesswhich opens responsibilities to so many people from farmers, SMEs and bigcompanies, which is an imperative that needs to be worked on".  

He made a strong point that access to the internetis an enabler for providing equal opportunities to small and big companies alike. 

 Engineer Babagana Digima who representedProf. Umar Garba Danbatta Executive Vice  Chairman/ Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said Nigeria is one of thelargest markets in Africa, and also the biggest segment is the information andcommunication sector of the economy.

In his presentation, Engineer Babagana Digima saidas of March 2020 the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria the Nigeriantelecom industry had a teledensity of 99.09% and an internet penetration of39.85%.

As of today, based on the August 2020 data theteledensity according to the NCC official was  106.62%  while thebroadband penetration was 43.3%.

He noted that Teledensity, broadband penetration,number of subscriptions and population coverage were some of the key indicesrecognized by the international telecommunications union (ITU) as a measure ofeconomic development for nations.

He informed stakeholders that the totalcontribution of the telecom sector to the GDP of Nigeria increased from 10.88%in Q1, 2020 to 14.3% in Q2, 2020. He said the contribution of the telecomsector to the growth of the economy and well-being of the country is set tocontinue, as well-articulated policies of the federal ministry of communicationand digital economy take shape.

Speaking further, he noted that the planrecognized  70% of local government headquarters and 60% of all basetransceiver stations are to be connected with fibre as well as localmanufacturing and assembling of three smartphones in the country. 

Giving further details on the policy, he statedthat the Minister of Communication has set out digital innovation, digitalentrepreneurship and digital skills as key areas that will be given highpriority. 

Also, he noted that the commission's actions suchas permitting the provision of mobile money services has resulted in thelicensing of several payment service banks which are now helping towards theactualization of the 80% financial inclusion target of the federal government.

According to him, the telecoms sector during thispandemic in no doubt has managed to keep people connected, informed,entertained and enlightened on the disease which has helped in curtailing itsspread.

He was optimistic that with the emphasis bythe government for the development of the telecommunications infrastructure, the pandemic has brought the urgency on such interventions as doingbusiness online is the new normal. 

Digma said the country has accelerated thelicensing of a new spectrum to usher in new technologies like 5G, TV Wide spacebroadband, corporate governance, satellite services and altitude platformservices to address the telecom's infrastructure and services. 

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