In a series of tweets earlier today, one of the announcements they made was in respect to the report. They now say they have no plans to regulate the OTT services which include WhatsApp, Skype and Messenger which serve as alternatives to traditional telephony. It is now estimated that Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp which is owned by Facebook now process 60 billion messages daily on a global scale compared to 20 billion SMS processed globally a day. This doesn’t take into account services like WeChat and Snapchat which are becoming popular in Nigeria. Since Facebook forced everyone who wishes to chat on mobile to now be on Messenger and we now have about 16 million Nigerians using the social network, it’s safe to estimate that there may now be over 14 million Nigerian now using the services Messenger offers and that includes free messaging, voice and video calls.
Nearly all social media networks including Skype now offer free alternative solutions to traditional telephony over Public Switch Telephone Networks (PSTN).
Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NCC
But not to lose out completely, major telecom companies in Nigeria have all decided to focus more on the data services that give users access to these services in the first place. It is now common to see adverts saying you should pay recharge your line and get a free access to Facebook for a period in time. This has largely been successful as Nigerian telecom companies continue to declare huge revenues in the face of current economic conditions.
Well so they are leaving those services the way they are and if we hear learn otherwise, we’ll bring it to you.
The other significant announcement that the Telecom sector in Nigeria contributed about 1.5tr Naira/$5b (using CBN rate from Nairabot) to the national GDP and the figure shows an increase from the previous quarter.
This hasn’t stopped the government from proposing a 9 percent tax on telecom activities including voice calls and this is in addition to the 5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) that Nigerians are already paying each time they top up their call credits to call.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
