Danbatta who said this while briefing the Committee members in Abuja, attributed the success to what he called the harmonious relationship between the Commission and the National Assembly. The EVC noted that the diligent oversight by the lawmakers and their legislative support have brought forth a lot of dividends for the telcom industry.
He said: “Through the support of the lawmakers, especially the House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications, which the NCC leadership has worked with in the last five years, the Commission has been able to generate and remit N344.71 billion to Federal Government Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) from spectrum fees and operating surplus.”
Danbatta further noted that the telecoms sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 8.5 percent in 2015 to 14.30 percent as of the second quarter(Q2) of 2020. In financial value, he explained that the 14.30 per cent translates to N2.272 trillion in Q2. The EVC also said that telecoms investment grew from around $38 billion in 2015 to over $70 billion currently.
Danbatta went on to say that the telecoms regulator is promoting much needed financial inclusion by encouraging the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to actively participate in providing financial services towards actualising FG’s 80 per cent financial inclusion target by 2020.
According to him, through the collaboration of critical stakeholders, the NCC has been able to increase broadband penetration from 6 percent in 2015 to 45.43 percent as of September, 2020 while basic active internet subscription grew from 90 million to 143.7 million.
“Between 2015 and September, 2020, active voice subscription has increased from 151 million to 205.25 percent million with a teledensity standing at 107.53 percent as at end of September, 2020. We are also empowering and protecting the consumers and ensuring we are able to sanitise the industry of improperly-registered Subscriber identification Module (SIM) cards through our impartial regulatory approach,” Danbatta said.
Meanwhile, the Commitee chairman Hon. Akeem Adeyemi, commended the leadership of the Commission for its transparency in ensuring remittances to CRF of the Federal Government, considering the current revenue drive of the government.
The committee urged the NCC to sustain its current template of ensuring effective regulation of the telecoms sector in a manner that would be more mutually beneficial to the industry players, the consumers of the telecoms services and to the Nigerian government.