CURRENT STATUS OF ICT IN NIGERIA

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CURRENT STATUS OF ICT IN NIGERIA

• Economic, Social and Legal Aspects of The
  Internet
• February 16 26, 2005 Seoul, Korea.
• Chinedu C. Okpaleke
• Nigeria Development
  Gateway
• cokpaleke_at_yahoo.com

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Content

• General Country Information
• Structure of ICT Sector
• ICT Policy Legislation
• Law on Information Technology
• - Nigerian National IT Policy
• - National Computer Security and Protection
  Bill
• Telecommunications Sector
• - Fixed Telephony Network
• - Cellular and GSM Network
• - GSM Operators (Market Share)
• Internet and Data communication
• - Internet Usage Statistics
• - National Internet Spread
• Local Computer Manufacture/Assembly
• Broadcasting TV, Radio, Cable TV
• Current Status of ICT Development in Nigeria 2004
• Conclusions

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General Country Information

• Land Area 923,768 sq. km
• Population 133,881,703 (July 2001 Estimate)
• Administrative Divisions 36 States and I Federal
  Territory (Capital) and about 740 Local
  Government Councils
• GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) 114.8 billion USD
  (2004 Est.)
• GDP Growth 7.1
• Inflation Rate 6.5
• Literacy Rate 68
• Industries Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Coal, Tin,
  Zinc, Columbite, Palm Oil, Peanuts, Cotton,
  Rubber, Wood, Hides Skins, Textiles, Cement
  other Construction materials, Steel etc.
• Export Commodities Petroleum Petroleum
  Products (95), Cocoa, Rubber
• Internet Users 750,000 (2003 Est.)
• Telecommunications sub-sector liberalisation
  Domestic - 1992 GSM Licensing 2001/2002
  Domestic long distance international - 2002.

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Nigeria
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Structure of ICT Sector

• Authorities
• - Federal Ministry of Science and Technology
• - Federal Ministry of Communications
• - National Information Technology Development
  Agency
• - Nigerian Communications Commission
• Associations and NGOs
• - Nigeria Development Gateway
• - Nigeria Internet Group
• - Nigeria Computer Society
• - Association Of Telecom Companies Of Nigeria
• - Nigeria Information Technology Professionals
  in the Americas (NITPA)
• - Computer Professionals Registration Council
• - Internet Service Providers Association of
  Nigeria
• Among several others.

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ICT POLICY LEGISLATION

• Nigeria Communications Act 2003
• Wireless Telegraphy Act 1990
• National IT Policy, Nigeria 2001
• Computer Security Protection Bill (Still in
  review and Yet to be passed into Law)
• Electronic Media Deregulation Act 1992

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Nigerian National Policy for Information
Technologyhttp//www.nitda.org/docs/policy/ngitpo
licy.pdf

• Chapters
• Human Resource Development
• Infrastructure
• Governance
• Research Development
• Health
• Agriculture
• Urban Rural Development
• Trade Commerce
• Fiscal Measures
• Government Private Sector Partnerships
• Arts, Culture Tourism
• National Security Law
• Legislation
• Global Consideration
• IT Popularization Awareness
• Policy Implementation

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National Computer Security and Protection Bill

• Covers a wide range of issues including
• - Computer Contamination (SPAM),
• - Illegal Communications,
• - Computer Vandalism,
• - Cyber-squatting,
• - Cyber-terrorism,
• - 0nline Intellectual Property Rights
  Infringement
• - Cyber-pornography etc.

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Telecommunications Sector

• This sector has recorded more than 206.5 growth
  between 2002 and 2004, making Nigeria Africas
  and one of the worlds fastest growing
  telecommunications market, at present.
• Number of Telecoms licensees 445
• Active Operators (mobile, fixed, value-added
  services VAS) 99 (or 22.25).
• New/Additional mobile phone licenses will be
  granted by the government through the NCC this
  year, 2005.

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Fixed Telephony Network

• Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) -
  Pioneer and Government owned. Has a limited Fixed
  Line infrastructure. It has a present capacity of
  about 700,000 lines (about 450,000 currently
  functioning).
• Private Telecommunications Operators (PTOs)
  include Intercellular, Multi-Links, Reliance
  (Reltel), Starcomms, Cellcom, among others. These
  operators provide Fixed Wireless Access and
  account for about 250,000 telephone subscribers.
• Total Telephony Density 10 MILLION LINES
  (December 2004 Est.). Nigerian Communications
  Commission projects that the figure will rise to
  20 Million in 2005.
• Telephony density/Percentage penetration per 100
  people 7.08 (Increase of about 206 from 2003
  teledensity of 2.31). Teledensity and telephony
  infrastructure are concentrated mainly in the
  urban and metropolitan areas.
• Limited Fixed Line infrastructure and slow
  pace of growth in the Fixed Line sector are
  presently inhibiting Internet access growth.
• RURAL TELEPHONY efforts have been commenced by
  NITEL, using CDMA 450 technology in purely rural
  areas. NITEL has also commenced building new
• networks using wireless CDMA 1900 technology in
  some urban and
• metropolitan areas, in partnership with HUAWEI
  Technologies Co. Ltd. Of China.

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Cellular, WLL and GSM Network

• About 4 Operators provide GSM cellular telephone
  services
• - MTEL
• - MTN
• - VMobile (formerly Econet Nigeria)
• - Globacomm
• Data services such as SMS and WAP are
  offered by these GSM networks, while Globacomm
  also offers General Packet Radio Services (GPRS).
  Some of these GSM networks have roaming
  agreements with other international networks.
• The PTOs such as Starcomm, Reliance Telecoms
  (Reltel), Intercellular etc. also provide limited
  mobility telephones.
• Percentage mobile phone growth between December
  2001 and December 2002 was 593 and mobile
  subscribers increased from a mere 25,000 in 1999
  to 3.1million in 2003, making Nigeria one of the
  worlds fastest growing mobile (GSM) market.
• Cellular telephony density has risen to about 7
  million lines and is expected to further increase
  with the grant of new licenses this year and
  increased competition among the telecom companies
  .
• More than 80 of the subscribers are in the urban
  and metropolitan areas.

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(ii) GSM Operators(Market Share)

• Source NITDA IT Baseline Studies March 2004
  NSL Consulting)

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Growth of fixed and cellular phone subscribers
Years 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Fixed 473,000 553,000 600,000 702,000 853,000 N/A
Cellular 25,000 30,000 266,000 1,608,000 3,149,000 7,000,000
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Internet and Data-communication

• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 40
• Service types
• Wireless, Dedicated line, VSAT, Dial-up
• - email, Web, VoIP, Fax
• Registration of .ng domain name Since March
  1995
• Internet/Cyber cafes No available data

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Internet Usage Statistics(Source NITDA IT
Baseline Studies March, 2004, NSL Consulting).

• Proportion of Internet Utilization By Age Groups

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NATIONAL INTERNET SPREAD

• Internet Access Points (IAPs)
• IAP Density 5 IAP per 1000 people
• (Assuming 130million conservative estimate-
  population)

Organizations 530,720 77
Homes 122,431 18
Cyber-cafes 32,060 5
TOTAL 685,211 100
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Local Computer Manufacture/Assembly

• Four local PC assembly plants have been endorsed
  by the Nigerian government for assembly and
  manufacture of PCs and computer hardware. They
  have a combined capacity to produce about 1,050
  PCs a day.
• 2 major players in this sub-sector are ZINOX
  Technologies and OMATEK Computers.
• There is a thriving informal market which mainly
  produce clones.
• A survey of the quantity of branded Computers
  produced indicate as follows
• Personal Computers 20,000 per month
• Laptops 4,450 per month
• UPS 18,140 per month.
• Government support and further incentives will
  facilitate growth of the this sub-sector, as well
  as increased local patronage of these products.

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Broadcasting TV, Radio, Cable TV

• The national TV and radio broadcasts are
  transmitted via satellite. There
  is a domestic communications satellite system
  with 19 earth stations.
• Television Broadcast Stations
• - Public/Federal Government Owned TV 39
  Stations all under the Nigeria Television
  Authority
• - Private TV Stations 16
• Radio Stations
• - Public/Federal Government owned 2 (FRCN
  and Voice of Nigeria, which broadcasts external
  news bulletins and programmes in 6 different
  languages including English, French, Arabic,
  Hausa, Fulfulde and Swahili).
• - Private Radio Stations 32
• - State Government owned TV and Radio
  Stations 46
• AM Radio Stations 83
• FM 36
• Shortwave11 (2001 Est.)
• These broadcasting stations (radio and TV) are
  mostly located
• in urban/metropolitan areas (mostly state
  capitals), but several are
• received clearly in rural areas.

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Current Status of ICT IN Nigeria

• A study conducted by the Nigeria Development
  Gateway collaborative.
• The study provides an in-depth analysis and
  examination of the current status of the Nigerian
  ICT sector. It covers statistics on Internet use
  in Nigeria (presently restricted to the urban
  areas and not available in rural areas). It also
  gives a fair idea of Nigerias readiness to fully
  participate in the global network, in this era of
  globalization.

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Conclusions

• The Nigerian market for basic telecommunication
  network based services has been witnessing
  outstanding growth since its liberalisation and
  roll-out of GSM licensees services from 2001.
• There is growing and wide-spread availability of
  mobile telephones, but the growth in the
  fixed/main line telephone sub-sector is still
  relatively slow.
• There is broad availability of telephones, value
  added services, Internet access in the urban
  areas and capital cities (with the highest
  concentration in the commercial capital, Lagos,
  followed by other big urban centers like
  Portharcort, Abuja, etc.), but access in rural
  areas remains limited and virtually non-existent
  in some rural areas, thus contributing to an
  intra-country digital-divide.

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Conclusions (contd.)

• Internet services charges are still relatively
  high among the ISPs but the existence of
  Internet/Cyber cafes makes access readily
  available to the mass-market. Value added and
  cheaper Internet services offered by the Private
  Telecommunications Operators have further eaten
  into the ISPs niche market but have made Internet
  services more readily accessible to a wider range
  of subscribers.

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Conclusions (Contd.)

• ISP companies have concentrated their services
  mostly within major metropolitan cities such as
  Lagos, Abuja, Portharcort, Kaduna, Enugu, Owerri
  and Kano, to mention a few.
• There is urgent need for government incentives
  for service providers, aimed at encouraging them
  to improve availability of their services to
  rural areas and the smaller urban areas, thereby
  reducing the technological gap between the urban
  and rural areas.

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Conclusions (contd.)

• The government should hasten the process for the
  enactment of a cyber-crime law in particular the
  process for the passing of the National Computer
  Security and Protection Bill into law should be
  hastened in order to sanitize the Nigerian
  cyberspace and encourage e-Commerce and the
  growth of e-Banking.
• In spite of growing computerization and the
  growth of local computer manufacture and
  assembly, 80 of small businesses do not own a
  single PC and about 95 of public educational
  institutions do not own or have access to modern
  PCs.

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Conclusions (contd.)

• Research institutions do not have adequate number
  of computers and the number available are not
  suited to the particular purpose.
• There is a yearning thirst for new technologies
  among the general populace as evidenced by the
  fast and unprecedented growth in the
  telecommunication mobile (GSM) phone sub-sector
  and the slow but steady growth of the local
  computer manufacture/assembly market, as well as
  the growing interest in cyber-cafes.

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Conclusions (contd.)

• More incentives should be given by the government
  to local manufacturers of PCs by way of increased
  patronage and tax/duty waivers in order to
  engender the type of growth witnessed in the
  telecommunications sector, in this vital sector.
• The NCC should address in a more concrete and
  effective manner, interconnectivity problems and
  issues among the GSM operators, as well as the
  national fixed line operator, NITEL to further
  reduce incidents of dropped calls and poor access.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

• (End)