Despite a tenuous period facing Nigeria's telecommunications sector, with the country's regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) continuing to push SIM card registration in the country, mobile companies reported strong growth in the past year. According to figures reported locally, subscriptions rose 16.26 percent over the past 12 months, the NCC said. Overall connected mobile lines grew nearly 13 million to just shy of 90 million in total through March. This growth came despite worries that subscription were likely to drop as a result of the continuing NCC effort to register all SIMs in the country. Telecom consultant Lanre Abegbenro told BusinessDay that “it is still too early to call. Drop is still expected, but I don't expect it to be significant. The registration is staggered enough to forestall the kind of situation that will create a huge drop.” Other analysts and observers tend to agree as well, saying that although the reports are positive today, the telecom industry must be cautious before pushing on with all the expected gains it has achieved in recent years. “We are definitely at a turning point in the sector, what happens now will depend entirely on the NCC's ability to make the registration process as smooth as possible,” said one analyst within the NCC who asked not to be named. Overall, however, the NCC said the sector is healthy and will continue to show signs of growth for at least the next quarter and that their efforts should not hinder further growth. BM
