CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
The world has become a global village with Telecommunication being an
indispensable tool in the entire
process of globalization1. However, it is not in dispute
that Telecommunication industries play essential roles in this process. This is obviously
why development process in this
vital sector over the years has been phenomenal all over the world. In fact,
this is why emerging trend in socio – economic growth shows high
premium being placed on Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), by nations, organizations and homes2.
Unlike in the past, government
consider Telecommunications service to be so vital to national interest and
economic development that it was
placed directly under their control in most
countries until fairly recently, when deregulation and competition were introduced3.
The emergence of Telecommunication has brought a new era in
Telecommunication industry. The internet, mobile phone and computer, have
brought about a fundamental shift in patterns of communication and human
relationships. Communication revolution has also brought about amazing social,
economic, cultural and psychological transformation. It has reduced the globe
into a village through deduction of time and space. The recent advances in
telecommunications technology have been an important vehicle in permitting
information exchange to develop at a valuable commodity for moving the country
into post industrial and information based economic growth. In this present
world, a modern telecommunication infrastructural development is not only
essential for domestic economic growth, but is a prerequisite for participation
in increasingly competitive world, markets and for attracting new investment4.
Nigeria at the moment has not been left out of rapid development of
telecommunication industry in the world. The nation‟s telecommunication
industry was liberated with the return of democracy in 1999. This led to the
granting of Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) license by the
Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to three providers: Econet, MTN, and
MTEL. This was followed by the licensing of the Second National Operator (SNO),
in 2003; that is, Globacom and Universal Access Service Licenses of 2006 which
include fixed telephony, VSAT and internet service providers. Also, in March
2008, the NCC gave license to another GSM operator known as Etisalat. And
presently NCC has issued more than 200 licenses to intending telecommunication
operators5.
According to NCC 57.8 million telecommunication subscribers in Nigeria
use internet data as at October 2013. As at June 2012, Nigeria had 28.4% of
internet penetration and 48.3 million populations as internet users, 113
million mobile subscribers and 69.01% mobile penetration out of 167 million
total African internet users6. Nigeria is reported to be number 1 in
African in terms of internet users out of the continent‟s 1 billion total
population estimate in 2012, with a 15.6 % of internet penetration rate and
51.6 million facebook subscribers as well as 4.8 of penetration rate7.
According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – world in 2014 ICT facts and figures, the new figures shows that, by the end of 2014, there was almost 3 billion internet users, two-third of them coming from the developing world, and the number of mobile broad band subscription will reach 2.3 billion globally. Fifty-five % of these subscriptions are expected to be in the developing world. Mobile broadband remains the fastest growing market segment with continuous double digit growth rates in 2014. Mobile broadband is growing fastest in the developing countries, where 2013/2014 growth rates are expected to be twice as higher as developed countries (26% compared with11.5 %). By end of 2014, the number of mobile broadband subscription had reach 2.3 billion globally almost 5 times as many as just as just six years earlier in (2008).mobile broadband penetration in Africa reaches close to 20% in 2014. By end of 2014, 55% of all broadband subscriptions are expected to be in the developing world compared with only 20% in 2008. Mobile cellular growth rates have reaches their lowest ever level (of 26% globally), indicating that the market reaches its saturation level. The continuous increase in mobile cellular subscription is mostly due to growth in the developing world, penetration in developing countries continuous to growth twice as much as in developed countries (3.1% compared with 1.5% respectively in 2014). 44% of all fixed broadband subscription in Asia-pacific compared with only 0.5% in Africa. Fixed broadband penetration continuous to grow at albeit slowly (at 4.4% globally) mostly due to slowdown in developing countries, where fixed broadband penetration rates are expected to drop from 18% in 2011 to 6% in 2014.In developed countries, fixed broadband penetration will grow at around 3.5% in 2014 compared with 4.8% in 2011. The number of household with internet access in developing countries surpassed those in developed countries in 2013, and doubled between 2010 and 2014.8
Around 40% of the world population has an internet connection as at July
1st 2014. In 1995 it was less than 1%. The number of internet users
has increased tenfold from 1995-2013. The first billion was reached in 2005,
the second billion in 2010 and the third billion will be reaching by the end of
2014. In 2014, nearly 75% (2.1 billion) of all internet users in the
world (2.8 billion) live in the
top 20 countries. The remaining 25%
(0.7 billion) of all internet users is distributed among the other 178
countries, each representing less than 1% of
the total users. China, the
country with most users (642 million
in 2014), represent nearly 22% of total and has more users than the next
three countries combined (US, India and Japan). Among the top 20 countries,
India is the one with the lowest
penetration: 19% and the highest
yearly growth. At the opposite end
of the rage, US, Germany, France, UK and Canada have the highest penetration:
over 80% population in these
countries has an internet connection. In Africa, Nigeria top the list with
67.1 million users; 16 % of growth
rate, 37.59% of penetration rate and 9.36 million users‟ growth rate.9
AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (NCC) IN REGULATING THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR
