Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani has disclosed plans by the federal government to increase revenue from the telecommunications industry by 100 per cent between in the next four years.
This is one of the items in the Blueprint recently released by the minister.
Tijani in the Blueprint said the Ministry would overhaul the National Policy on Telecommunications, which was last revised in 2000, to account for changes in technology, standards, and markets, and define the trajectory of the next phase of one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing sectors.
“As telecommunications continues to evolve in line with new technology and associated opportunities, it is critical to revamp our national approach to account for changing imperatives and to situate broadband development at the core of our national policy for the next 20 years. Core issues such as spectrum management, convergence, universal access, broadband penetration, net neutrality, and Quality of Service (QoS) have morphed significantly from when the last policy was issued.
“Similarly, the drive towards a digital economy requires deepening of access to telephony and broadband services for the underserved and unserved. The Ministry will drive the review of the Telecoms Policy to account for these core issues,” he said.
Tijani further said the Ministry has set a target of increasing investment into Nigeria’s telecommunications sector by 15 per cent year-on-year.
Part of the targets also include reducing the gap of unconnected Nigerians in rural areas from 61 per cent to less than 20 per cent by 2027.
The minister further stated that the Ministry is also hoping to achieve a 50 per cent improvement in Quality of Service (QoS) by the end of 2024.
He further revealed that the Ministry has also set a target to increase the net GDP contribution of the telecommunications sector to 22 per cent of GDP by the end of 2027.
