NIGERIA Invest in 2012-13 - Newsdesk Media

Andrew Esiebo
Ringing the changes
in the mobile market
Mobile phone usage in Nigeria has seen a
massive increase in the last decade, but it’s not
the only area of enormous change in the
country’s wireless market. Wendy Atkins sees
huge developments in internet usage and a
major roll-out of biometric technology
The wireless revolution is well under way in
Nigeria, with explosive growth in mobile use and
rapid penetration of internet technologies.
But this isn’t simply about the success of
various technologies, it’s about how a simple
mobile phone – or an internet connection – can have an
impact at every level of society, transforming the country’s
economy and the way its people live.
President Goodluck Jonathan is banking on the latest
technologies to drive development. In a speech in Kebbi
state last April, he said: “For the next four years we will
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE 135
Easy access to mobile phone
technology is transforming
Nigerian society
emphasise science and technology because we have no choice;
without that we are just dreaming.”
Statistically speaking
The country’s statistics make positive reading. According to the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the number of
people using the internet in Nigeria soared from 200,000 (0.1
per cent of the population) in 2000 to 23,982,200 (16.1 per
cent) in 2009. There’s also been rapid growth in the use of
mobile phones, driven in part by the shortcomings in Nigeria’s
fixed-line system. According to figures from mobile technology
association GSMA in 2011, it had more than 93 million
mobile phone subscriptions, the highest number in Africa and
16 per cent of the continent’s total.
While internet usage is expanding in general, one area
with extra potential is the mobile broadband market. According
to GSMA, if the Nigerian government supports the roll-out of
the technology across the country, it could unlock a potential
GDP growth of N 862 billion ($5.55 billion) by 2015.
INvEST IN NIGERIA 2012-13