Mary Eduwem Aladi
22 August 2007
Lagos — The month of August is a memorable month for the Nigerian telecoms sector.
It is the month when the revolutionary GSM technology that has transformed the communications system of the country began. Prior to GSM, Nigerians could not boast of an effective system of communications and had only 400,000 thousand lines to a population of over 130,000.000.
However the entrance of the GSM technology has brought about such a revolutionary transformation that millions of Nigerians with no access to telecommunications now clutch mobile phones in their millions. It is a common sight these days to see traders, fish sellers, hawkers, motorcycle riders etc using mobile phones. The staggering number of subscribers on the three major GSM networks of MTN, Globacom and Celtel as Nigeria celebrates 6 years of operations, is a testimony to the hunger of Nigerians for communications.
However it is clear that Nigeria cannot celebrate the advances recorded in the communications sphere without acknowledging the contributions of Ernest Ndukwe, the Vice Chairman of the Commission. Ernest has over the years emerged as the face of GSM in Nigeria through his transparent handling of the regulatory affairs of the telecoms sector.
Since February of 2001 when he supervised the auctioning of GSM licences in the country, he has conducted the affairs of the regulatory functions of the commission in such a way that other countries in Africa now come to Nigeria to understudy the regulatory processes that has seen the sector emerge as the largest and fastest growing in Africa and the 3rd fastest growing in the world.
Throughout his working career which has spanned 24 years, Ndukwe has been involved in communication. He studied Engineering from the University of Ife - now Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU) from where he graduated in 1975. He started his working career a year later with Radio Communications Nigeria Ltd, owned by M K O Abiola. He was later sent to the affiliate headquarters, Harris Corporation in Florida for an advanced course in satellite communications.
On return, he stepped up the ladder into management level. He was at various times workshop manager, station manager and engineering manager. He left Radio Communications to join General Telecom in 1981. And prior to his elevation to the board of the company in 1988 as commercial director, he held many managerial positions, such as engineering manager, marketing manager, general sales manager.
And in 1989, he was appointed Managing Director and CEO of the company and thus became the first Nigerian Chief Executive since its establishment in Nigeria. An alumnus of the Lagos Business School(LBS), Ndukwe is a member of many professional bodies and is very well respected in the telecommunication industry.
The high point of his involvement in the development of telecommunications in the country was his election as president of ATCON (Association of Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria). In fact as president of ATCON, he was one of the early advocates of GSM in the country, little did he know then that he would be the one to supervise its operations in the country.
Several research firms across the globe has commended the Nigerian government and Ndukwe, one of the most sought-after telecom resource persons in the telecommunications industry in Africa for an effective transparent and foreign investment attracting regimes in the continent. Inspite of the recent downturn in the quality of service dished out by operators characterized by drop calls, undelivered text messages etc, Ndukweís starling qualities as a regulator of note is still intact.
However, beyond the celebration of six years of GSM, the NCC had taken several measures to tackle the issues of quality of service. One of the ways the NCC has shown that it was serious in tackling issues of quality of service was in the area of the enforcing its regulatory powers to stop operators from further promos that has been a major cause of network congestion witnessed in recent times. By this action the NCC sent a message that no operator is above the law and that they must conform to measures that will save the sector from further basterdisation due to their poor service delivery. The commission has also procured equipments that will enable it monitor congestion and service quality of the various networks in the country.
In the last five years, since the GSM revolution hit the nation, a lot benefits have been enjoyed by the Nigerian subscriber who was hitherto at the mercy of the almost nonexistent epileptic services rendered by the Nigerian Telecommunications NITEL. Since then, the monopoly of non effective service rendered by Nitel has been broken and communication across regions enhanced by GSM thus encouraging the socio economic growth of the nation, enhancing business and social relationships. The fact is that effective communication is crucial and cannot be overemphasized. With a teledensity presently below 20 % and a subscriber base of 25 million as at the end of June, one could say that a feat has been achieved by the GSM revolution in connecting Nigerians to a critical service given the fact that before the advent of GSM, teledensity was less than 4% and only about for hundred Nigerians had access to telephony services in a nation of over a hundred and thirty million people. Then having a telephone was a class thing and only the rich could afford the luxury and the muscle to withstand the stress of Nitel technicians who used to hold subscribers to ransom at every little opportunity. Then it was a common sight to see the technicians asking for ladder and cables and all sorts to fix a line anytime a problem arises, it was indeed a nightmare. One could easily recall the stress of keeping vigil at the offices of Nitel in a bid to make calls and be confronted with the common problem of no tone come back tomorrow and so on. But thanks to President Obasanjo and the coming of GSM all that is now history.
It is common knowledge now that the next phase of the Telecomms communications growth will come from the rural areas.With a teledensity below 20 million it is obvious that a huge gap needs to be tapped and already the focus for now by stakeholders and investors is on the rural area and how ICT services can be deployed to the rural communities. Investors are falling over themselves to come to Nigeria and do business mostly cause of the fact that in spite of the infrastructural problems posed by lack of power,roads etc,Nigeria has a high return on investments rate Itís a fertile ground for any investor to recoup their investments. Before now, the country has witnessed higher investments in the urban areas as opposed to lower investments in the rural areas by telecoms operators.In order to bridge this gap,telecommunications and internet services need to be deployed to the rural areas. Even though this may be hampered by funding due to the fact that a lot of funding is needed to deploy these services to the rural areas. But on the long run the benefits to be derived from adequate coverage of the rural communities will make up for the heavy investments ploughed in.
The benefits for the nation in the deployment of ICT to the rural areas is enormous.One is the fact that it will accelerate economic growth in the rural areas leading to the stoppage of rural to urban migration, It will help to reduce poverty as the deployment will attract a lot of opportunities for wealth creation to the rural populace, through the proliferation of small and medium scale enterprises, promotion of human development, and the improvement of the quality of education at the rural level. The advancement recorded in the western world, pace setters of the digital revolution through constant advancement in technology is a desirable thing that needs to be duplicated across all parts of Nigeria. The GSMís network expansion to the rural areas should be supported and pursued vigorously until all the nooks and crannies have access to rural telephony and internet access. Nigeria whose telecommunications growth has literally stunned the world after only six years of operating its GSM is expected to provide about 20 per cent of the African growth rate with its five-year forecast of over 50 million lines.
This forecast has superseded the expected initial projection of 20 million subscribers by getting over 25 million subscribers in its first five years. After six years, the sky is the limit for Nigeria. The NCC should continue regulating the industry to ensure that Operators give quality services that meet up with international standards.
The NCC under Ndukwe should not relent in its efforts of playing its regulatory functions in an effective manner. Nigeria has a lot to gain and cannot afford to loose sight of the fact that an effective regulatory environment has to a large extent helped in steering the ship of the nationís telecoms revolution.
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