THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday said its quarterly contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) now stands at over 10 per cent which is about N6trillion, while broadband penetration peaked at 39 per cent as at December last year.
Its Executive Vice Chairman Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta who spoke at the Headquarters of the Commission in Abuja while briefing members of the Senate Committee on Communications led by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said the number of active subscribers stood at 184,699,409 also by December 2019, while active internet subscription by GSM was 125.7 million, fixed wire was 9,670, and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) was 341,001, making a total of 126 million.
Other members of the Committee are Senators Opeyemi Bamidele, Dr T. A. Orji, Ibrahim Mohammed Bomei, Dr Oloriegbe, and Dr Ibrahim Yahaya
Danbatta added that while teledensity was about 96.76 as at December 2019, the Commission has also reduced the numbers of underserved and unserved areas of the population, especially those in rural areas from 38 million to 31 million.
He said about N34 billion had been paid by the South African Telecom giant, MTN, to the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in respect of the allocation and regularisation of the 2×10 megahertz (MHz) spectrum in the 700 MHz spectrum for provision of telecoms services.
He said MTN had also paid the N330 billion fine imposed on it four years ago for infraction on SIM card registration, while the company together with Airtel Nigeria are now listed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) making it possible for ordinary Nigerians to own shares in the companies.

By Blessing Olaifa