Nigeria’s Teledensity Rise To 100% -NCC

Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has said that Nigeria has attained teledensity of 100 per cent as at January 2015.

Executive Vice Chairman, Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah, who was represented by NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo, made this known in Enugu forum at the recent 26th Enugu International Trade fair.

According to Juwah, teledensity is calculated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to mean active line distribution of one telephone to a hundred of a population.

“This is a remarkable achievement compared to when we started from 0.4 per cent in 2001. The Nigeria network offers everything that is available in any other part of the world. Some people do not even know that this network is what is enabling other services like internet Banking, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services and Point of Sales (POS) that are used in hotels and other locations across the country.

“Online hotel reservations, flight bookings and flight management that we now enjoy from our homes and offices are delivered by telecommunication. We should remember that all these are made possible in a very harsh environment for the provision of the telecommunication services,’’ he said.

The vice chairman cited the challenges facing the commission to include poor power supply, adding “We all know how difficult it is to enjoy uninterrupted power supply since telecom operation is a 24 hour service. Service providers cannot afford to lose any minute as a result of power supply.’’

The NCC boss lamented that multiple taxation and multiple regulations as well as vandalism of telecom infrastructure are other challenges that hamper deployment of services across the country.

He appealed to all subscribers to assist in protecting telecom facilities in their various communities and key into the services provided by the commission like mobile number portability (MNP) which enables subscribers alternate between service providers.

Juwah said the commission had introduced some services like mobile number portability which enables subscribers alternate between service providers.