The Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company and Chairman of FCMB, Bismarck Rewane, has praised the telecommunications sector for its significant impact on Nigeria's economy. He noted that the arrival of MTN Nigeria in 2001 marked a turning point, transforming the country's communication landscape. Rewane recalled that Nigeria had only 250,000 fixed telephone lines in 2000, when NITEL operated as a state-owned monopoly. The liberalisation of the sector and MTN's entry helped create an economy where communication and connectivity underpin almost every major economic activity.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria currently has 195 million active mobile subscriptions and 157 million active Internet subscriptions as of July 2026. Rewane said this transformation is evident in teledensity, which has risen from about 0.4 per cent to almost 90 per cent. He attributed this growth to mobile communication becoming an integral part of everyday life. The economist highlighted that the country has moved from severe scarcity to mass connectivity, with the telecommunications revolution being one of the most significant transformations in Nigeria's economy in the last 25 years.
Rewane also noted the enormous increase in investment that has accompanied the transformation. He said combined investment in the telecommunications sector grew from about $500 million to more than $75 billion. This investment has not only gone into telecommunications companies but also into infrastructure and the capacity of the economy to produce and transact. Rewane argued that the sector's contribution must be assessed not only by its direct GDP contribution but also by the economic activities it enables across various sectors.
The economist emphasised that the nominal contribution of telecommunications does not capture its full economic value. He said that if one only looks at the numbers, they may say telecommunications contributes a certain percentage to GDP, but if they look at the effective value, they begin to see the linkages. Rewane noted that MTN and other telecom operators have evolved from providing telecommunication services into becoming critical economic infrastructure and catalysts of growth.
In a related development, MTN Nigeria's Chief Financial Officer, Modupe Kadri, called on indigenous Nigerian enterprises to build world-class operational capabilities capable of competing globally. Kadri emphasised that sustainable domestic growth must be anchored on strict delivery discipline, innovation, and predictable market demand rather than policy entitlement. She made these remarks at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Forum in Lagos, where top executives discussed building local content together.
Kadri cautioned that local content must not mean substandard quality or entitlement simply because a company is Nigerian. She stated that the goal is not protection from global competition but preparation for competition. Kadri also highlighted that the next 25 years must pivot toward high-value digital assets, including artificial intelligence, data, cloud infrastructure, 5G, and cybersecurity. This, she believes, will enable domestic businesses to scale and compete globally.
A panel session at the forum featured prominent enterprise leaders who detailed how strategic corporate partnerships enabled domestic businesses to scale. They highlighted commercial opportunities and corporate access that allowed their firms to transition from modest operations into continental enterprises. The panellists included Afolabi Sobande, Udeme Ufot, Yemi Chukwurah, and Ayeni Adekunle, representing various industries such as IT, corporate uniform manufacturing, and strategic communications.
Key points
- The telecommunications sector has become critical economic infrastructure in Nigeria.
- The sector's contribution to GDP does not capture its full economic value.
- Local content must be built with a focus on global standards and competition.
