NCC Remits N463b To Federation Account

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) remitted N463 billion into the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the last five years.

Broadband penetration has also reached 44.30 per cent in readiness for the fifth Generation (5G) technology deployment.

Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta stated this when he led the management team of NCC on a visit to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. William Alo.

Danbatta, who briefed the Permanent Secretary on the status of the industry, following his appointment said NCC remained a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

The NCC boss listed some key achievements under his leadership in the Commission as the recent successful auction of 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for 5G services, licensing of seven fibre optics infrastructure providers, and adding up to 38,296 kilometres of fibre optic.

Danbatta, in a statement endorsed by the Director of Public Affairs of the NCC, Reuben Muoka, said some access gap clusters in the country have been reduced from 217 to 114 to enable 15 million Nigerians to have access to telecoms services.

He added that there was also an increase of fibre optics deployments from 47,000 kilometers to 54,725 kilometers.

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Danbatta explained that the 3G and 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the country have increased from less than 30,000 in 2015 to 53,460 while 7 VSAT gateway earth stations have been licensed to boost broadband penetration in the country.

He said the gross domestic product (GDP) contributions of the industry had grown from 8.5 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2015 to 12.61 in the Q4 of 2021, while the telecoms sector also attracted over $2 billion in foreign direct investment over the period.

Danbatta also said as of June, this year, there are more than 84 million Internet subscriptions in the country.

He however noted that for the 5G technology to take shape seamlessly there must be massive investments in infrastructure across the country.

SOURCE: The Nation