Business
THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said that the country needs more broadband penetration to attain sustainable economic growth. Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC, noted that broadband penetration, local content development, big data, telecom infrastructure development and protection, are hot topics in economic, academic and policy cycles.
Speaking at tech leaders roundtable/titans of tech award, Danbatta said economic growth means increase in per-capita Gross Domestic Product (per capita GDP), he said access to telecom services is critical to the development of all aspects of a nation’s economy, including manufacturing, banking, education, agriculture and government; hence Telecommunication infrastructure is regarded as a vital instrument for ensuring economic development. He said the protection of this vital infrastructure cannot be overemphasized.
Danbatta, who was represented by Anthony Ikemefuna, head, fixed networks and converged services of the NCC, said local content was framed within the context of growth of Nigerian entrepreneurship and the domestication of assets to fully realize Nigeria’s strategic developmental goals.
According to him, applying this to the telecom industry means that there is need for the participation of the Nigerian Small Medium Enterprises, SMEs, in the communication ecosystem.
“It is also vital that local companies participate in developing applications and services that will run on this huge broadband networks that is being built, thereby creating wealth and employment opportunities for Nigerians. This in turn is good for economic growth and national development.
“The success of Local Content Development to a large extent depends on the fundamental task of involving and enhancing the domestic knowledge base of a country through arrangements that allow for dynamic industrial and technological development, which in turn, gradually increases domestic competences and capabilities to competitive levels. In this regard, it is important Nigeria continues to invest in Knowledge/ICT Centers such as the Digital Bridge Institute, and Technology Parks,” he said.
Danbatta also noted the importance of big data to Nigerian economy and that there is no doubt that big data is a catalyst for economic development. For him, data in itself is useless if not utilised.
“Today we generate a high volume of data, but this daily generated data is unstructured and unused. So, what is big data? According to Gartner: Big data is high-volume, -velocity and -variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making. According to Europa, Big data presents significant opportunities for developing new creative products and services, for example, applications on mobile phones or business intelligence products for companies. It can boost growth and jobs and can also improve our quality of life.
“Big data has found applications in some industry verticals with value proposition that help economic growth. Some of the verticals are: Banking and Securities, Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing and Natural Resources, Insurance, Retail and Wholesale trade, Transportation, Communications, Media, and Entertainment, etc.
“Using the Communications, Media, and Entertainment verticals as an example, organizations in this industry simultaneously analyze customer data along with behavioral data to create detailed customer profiles to craft content for different target audiences, recommend content on demand, and measure content performance.”
– July 23, 2019 @ 11:59 GMT |
Tags: Why Nigeria needs to expand broadband penetration – Danbatta
