The success of the ICT industry may also be attributed in large part to the contributions made by the telecoms industry.
In the second quarter of 2023, the telecoms and information services sector became the third largest contributor to Nigeria’s GDP. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) commissioned a comprehensive report on the country’s economy, and this result is just one of several.
The survey found that telecommunications contributed 16.06% to GDP growth across the country. First place went to crop production (20.66%), followed by trade (16.80%). Nigeria’s GDP increased by 2.51% in Q2 of 2023 despite the country’s economic crisis. The country had a GDP of N52.10 trillion in nominal terms. The real GDP as of the second quarter’s end was N17.72 trillion.
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Telecoms not only made it onto the list of most important contributors, but they were also instrumental in the ICT industry’s remarkable performance. ICT made a 19.54 percent impact on GDP.
It’s important to note that ICT covers four subfields. These include the fields of broadcasting, publishing, motion pictures, sound recording, and music production. The NBS study found that the IT industry increased by 41.67 percent in nominal terms. There was a 27.56 percentage point gain from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023. The information and communications technology industry grew nominally by 11.6%.
Telecom Blazes The Trail
The present economic crisis has had an impact on Nigeria’s telecoms sector, as it has on many others. According to the NBS report, it has shown resilience in its recent performance. The number of internet users in Nigeria will increase by 9 percent in 2022, according to research by the Nigerian Communications Commission.
In June of 2023, MTN had more subscribers than any other company (84,663,653). The next three largest were Airtel (27.39%), Globacom (27.1%), and 9mobile (6.28%). The telecom industry, however, has hit a few speed bumps recently.
Since May 2023 (159,598,451), Nigeria’s total number of internet users has decreased to June 2023 (159,498,836). In addition, by June of 2023, just 47.01% of American homes have broadband. There is a 1.27% change from the rate in May 2023 (48.28%) to the current rate.
Telecom companies have been dropping hints about possible price increases for data, calls, and SMS messages during the past week. The telecommunications companies stated a review of the current pricing system was coming due to the rising cost of diesel and frequent regulatory involvement. Until further research is done, it is impossible to say if a rate increase will help or hurt its contributions to the national GDP.