Nigeria is losing telecommunications companies and the head of the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) Titi Omo-Ettu has blamed the losses on the poor business environment facing the country. Analysts also say the loss of the companies is a major impediment to the future of the telecom investment in the country. The ATCON president said that orientation in the ICT sector in the country is facing problems even as there is a large amount of financial backing within the sector as subscribers continue to rise. He said that “judging by this is grossly misleading and this poses serious dangers to the growth of the economy,” he said in a statement to local media. “We need to change that orientation and move the emphasis from the number of mobile lines to the number of users. Telephone should be seen as empowerment and not as prestige,” he added. Analysts told Bikya Masr/IT News Africa that the mood within the leadership of telecom companies is tense. They said this was due to the recent upheaval and the lack of investments coming into the sector. “We talked a lot about the amount of lines being in existence in Nigeria, but the reality is that there are not a lot of users because a lot of people, especially in the business world, have multiple lines so it is hard to get a real sense of the industry,” said Yunis Ahmed, a Nigerian IT analyst in Lagos. BM
