MAC 207: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (2UNITS) C

TOPIC 6: Introduction to Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication.
Telecommunication can also be defined as the process of communicating information via electronic means
over a distance. It makes use of electrical devices such as telephones and telegraphs, the use of radio and
microwave communications, as well as fiber optics and their associated electronics, plus use of the
broadcasting satellites and the internet.

Brief history of telecommunication in Nigeria

Telecommunication facilities in Nigeria were first established in 1886 by the colonial administration.
Telecommunications actually started in Nigeria because of the need of the colonial government to connect
with other colonial administration in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia and England. By 1893 colonial offices in
Lagos, Jebba and Ilorin were provided with telephone services. Gradually a national telecommunication
network emerged.

The first commercial telephone service between the towns of the Itu and Calabar was established in 1923.
Between 1946 and 1952, a three channel line carrier system was commissioned between Lagos and Ibadan
and was extended to Oshogbo, Kaduna, Kano, Benin and Enugu; this connected the colonial office in
London with Lagos likewise the commercial centres in the country with local authority offices. The need of
the telephony system in the colonial Nigeria then led to the 1955-62 development programme. It provided
for the expansion of the trunk using a Very High Frequency (VHF) multichannel radio system on a
nationwide basis and a short microwave link between Lagos and Ibadan.

At independence in 1960, with a population of roughly 40 million people, the country only had about 18,724
phone lines for use, this translated to a teledensity of about 0.5 telephone line per 1,000 people. The
telephone network consisted of 121 exchanges of which 116 were of the manual type and only 5 were
automatic.

After the independence of 1960, Nigeria External Telecommunications (NET) Limited was established,
and was responsible for the external telecommunication service. From 1960 to 1975, telecommunication did
not receive required government attention in terms of infrastructural development. However, the third
national development plan of 1975-1980 targeted significant improvements in capacity and infrastructure in
telecoms. In 1984/85, the telecom service was commercialized and thus, the Department of Post and
Telecommunication became separated. Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL) was created as government
owned monopoly operator to provide a range of services such as Fixed Telephone, Telegraph, and
Payphone. The installed capacity improved to 400,000 lines, while the connected lines stood at between
205,000 and 250,000 lines in 1987.

In 1992, the Nigerian Communication Commission Decree (NCCD) 75 was promulgated, and became the
main legislation governing the telecommunication sector. The decree liberalized various aspects of
telecommunications activities including the installation of terminals or other equipment; provision and
operation of private network links employing cable, radio communication or satellite exclusively within
Nigeria; provision and operation of public mobile communication (GSM standard); provision of community
telephones; provision and operation of value – added network services; repair and maintenance of
telecommunications facility; and cabling. Therefore, the establishment of a strong and independent regulator
becomes a prerequisite to enforce rules and regulations.

In 1999, Nigeria moved to join the digital age with the enthronement of democracy. The democratically
elected government showed keen interest in the full liberalization of the telecommunication sector. The

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implementation of the policy resulted in opening up to competition all the incumbent operator such as
national and international long distance services and mobile services.

The era of GSM

Nigerian telecommunications received a great boost with the coming of the Global System for
Communication (GSM) in 2001. One great achievement of the 1999 – 2003 democratic administration was
the licensing of three (3) companies – MTN, Vmobile and M-Tel by NCC in January 2001 to provide GSM
services in Nigeria. They were given renewable GSM licenses, which had a 5-year expiration date, and
allowed them to operate within the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum bands. Specific targets were set for
the operators by the NCC. Some of the targets were a minimum of 100,000 subscribers each in the
beginning year of operations, 1.5 million subscribers in the next five years, and a minimum of 5%
geographical coverage within each of the country’s geopolitical states.

Econet (now Airtel) has been said to be the first telecommunication service to launch its services in Nigeria
on August 8, 2001, going head-to-head with MTN which also began operations in August of the same year.
The first GSM communication call was made in Nigeria in August, 2001. At the end of 2001, the total
number of connected lines for mobile GSM telephones was 266,461 (NCC, 2008). In another development,
Globacom Ltd. was granted Second National Operators license on May 27, 2002.

MTN, which kept innovating at the time, brought about the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) which helped
to enhance call rates. Registering a line was as costly as having a phone. Line registration was pegged at
N40,000 to N50,000, however phone billing rates were charged on the minute basis (N50 per minute).
Globacom, established by Mike Adenuga, brought per second billing as its unique offering.

Etisalat Nigeria launched in 2008 as one of the first major broadband services in the country. The company
is known for its innovative products and services such as the Eco Sim and was the first network to offer
special numbers to Nigerians as their mobile numbers via the 0809uchoose campaign in 2008. 9mobile is a
Nigerian private limited liability company.

MTN (Mobile Telephone Network) is owned by MTN Group Limited (formerly M-Cell), a multinational
corporation and mobile telecommunications provider. Its head Office is in Johannesburg.

Airtel is an Indian multinational company that provides telecommunications and mobile money services in
14 countries in Africa. Airtel Africa is majority owned by the Indian telecommunication company Bharti
Airtel.

As of January, 2024 according to statistics released by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) MTN
has the highest number of inward porting followed by Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile which has the least
number of subcribers that ported into their network.

The Telecommunication Revolution

Trends in Technology Adoption recognized the fact that telecommunications is an infrastructure that may
aid a country's economic development. Today, innovations in satellite and wireless telephony, coupled with
solid state components for digital switching and end user equipment, have spectacularly lowered the costs of
providing telecommunications facilities to any location. Technology is one the factors responsible for the
growth of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector in general and telecommunications in
particular. Technologies used for telecommunications include wireless technologies, wire and cable
technology, Coaxial cables and fibre optics. Due to the advantages that fibre optic cable offers,
telecommunication companies all around the world are replacing their cable system with fibre optic. Fibre
optic cable is an ideal transmission system for developing countries, because this system is faster, secure,

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and more interactive than other cable systems and also, it can be linked directly to the end user terminals
such as telephones, television sets and radios.

Factors Responsible for the Growth of the Telecommunications Sector

Technology and competition contribute to the growth and changes in telecommunications. There are four
major technological issues that contribute to growth in the telecom sector:

i. Capacity: New technologies such as optical fibre have enormous capacity to carry information. They
can be used for anything from entertainment and distance education to the transmission of highly
detailed images. Satellites also offer a tremendous amount of bandwidth.

ii. Digitalization: Telecommunication networks are becoming totally digital, so that any type of
information, including voice and video, may be sent as a stream of bits in a compressed form and
reconstructed for use at the receiving end.

iii. Ubiquity: Advances in wireless technology such as cellular radio, Personal Communications
Services (PCS), and Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites provide mobile and personal
communications virtually anywhere. These technologies also make it possible to serve rural
communities without laying cable or stringing copper wire.

iv. Convergence: The convergence of telecommunications, data processing, and imaging technologies
has ushered the era of multimedia. Voice, data, and images may be combined according to the needs
of users.

Impact of telecommunication on the economy

Nigeria is rated the fastest growing telecom industry in Africa. The growth of GSM market has improved
the information accessibility, created jobs opportunities for both skilled and unskilled manpower hereby
changing the tides of the way businesses were conducted before the advent of GSM. The full liberalization
of telecommunication has impacted on the economy in a number of ways as follows:

i. First, it provides employment to many Nigerians.

ii. It enhances entrepreneurship, productivity and other commercial.
iii. The use of mobile phones enables professional and economic agents to multitask and carry out
various activities simultaneously.
iv. Total revenue accruing to the government in form of tax from the telecom sector has increased
tremendously after the liberalization of the sector.
v. Licensing fees rank high among the direct ways in which mobile operators contribute toward the
economy of their host countries.
vi. Telecommunication has boosted local and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country.
vii. Telecommunication has also play important role in social transformation in Nigeria by bringing
connectivity to remote areas and to lower‐income strata.
viii. Family and social relationship has been significantly improved as well as the state of security in the
nation.

Challenges Facing the Telecommunication Industry

In spite of the impact of telecommunication sector on the economy and regardless of how revolutionary the
industry has been, there are still some integral hurdles that prevail which are as follows:

i. Inadequate power supply: The standing electric power supply is not able to satisfy the
requirements of the mobile communications sector in Nigeria.
ii. Transmission infrastructure: GSM companies have to build backbone in the nation to address the
challenge of no dependable terrestrial transmission links across Nigeria.
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iii. Inadequate roads and social facilities: The GSM operators sometimes have to shoulder the
responsibility of constructing or fixing the roads that lead to their host communities before setting
their masts in place.
iv. Import obligations and long authorization processes: Importation of instruments subjected to long
tedious authorization and clearance processes which in turn delay the network deployment.

v. Over-taxation: The GSM operators are confronted with multiple taxation that is taken on their
equipment by several tiers of the Federal Government.

vi. Destruction and vandalism of equipment: vandalism and destruction of several installed
equipment like Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR), generator sets, diesel, air-condition units etc.
by hooligans.