The Nigerian Telecoms Market- Its Uniqueness
In pursuit of my argument last week in favor of new investment in Value Addition in the West African Telecoms market with emphasis on Nigeria, it is my goal today to look at the uniqueness of the Nigerian Market itself.
Nigerian itself is a unique Country. By virtue of all that has happened and is still happening, we should have been a banana republic by now, but it hasn’t happened and that in itself is a marvel.
How come a nation of over 140 Million people without power supply without effective government, without health facilities, roads , discernable transport system, failed education system etc…. and the list goes on, including endemic corruption; still exist as an somewhat organized society with effective economic activities and commerce?
I don’t pretend to have answers to these questions. But from hindsight, I intend to provide what I know, with the hope that the reader may understand why this state still crawls on.
Now, the average Nigerian is a resilient personality, hardworking, proud and enterprising. These qualities might not exist within the governmental circles or the political class hence the decadence and unacceptable excuses in government but the people themselves are. Typical enterprising spirits has been exhibited by the Adenuga’s of GlOBALCOM, the Dangotes, the Femi’s of Otedola family etc and etc. On the other hand, we can give few example of public integrities’ in the telecoms space like the Earnest Ndukwes’s of the NCC, whose dogged determination for creating an equal space for all players has made the telecoms market what it is now in Nigeria.
It is not my style to praise men; in fact I am not a fan of any though I have always maintained that the Adenugas’ represents the enterprising spirit of the Nigerian soul, just as the Daewoo’s and Hyundai of S, Korea or the Ford’s of US. They in my opinion typify the Nigerian spirit which in spite of a comatose government for over 30 years, still nudges on.
I hope I have not distracted you with my socio-politics ok. The fact is the Nigerian is a survival expert. He will not want to be a refugee in another man’s country. He hates to be abused and insulted. I know, this may sound strange to some, especially with the picture of black ladies strolling the streets of major capital of the world as sex hawkers’ majority of who are Nigerians and all the crimes associated with our youths. (You know what I mean….. The 419 syndrome).
While the Nigerian government has been captured by a group of self seeking cabals the people within the space called Nigeria are generally a very good people who have over the years devised various means of survival. Interestingly, you can’t trust statistics coming out of Nigeria at all because none is really reliable because of the complete disconnect between the government and the people. That is why most economic prediction concerning this country has always been made nonsense by practical experience. This in itself has been baffling to economics. I am not one and I am not baffled either. Ask the CBN, they will tell you that the money outside the banking system is more than the ones within the system. Funny hmmm!
The telecoms market also had its fare share of such faulty prediction. Once the space was liberalized, analyst did not give much chance to the market. But today you know better.
Before the launch of the GSM services, Nigeria had only about 30 thousand installed capacity of analogue mobile line and about 450,000 installed capacity of telephone lines half of which was not subscribed. At launch in 2001 Econonet provided only 250,000 lines, MTN, about the same and MTEL around 200,000. Those lines where cleared within months of launch even though then the average cost of ownership ranges between $900 to $300 dollars per line.
Today that market is the biggest revenue earner for MTN having probably the highest ARPU when compared with other MTN country sectors. For ZAIN, this is its unique and special market providing the core of its revenue etc …etc.. Total subscriber number is exceeding 60 Million and we are still counting.
That market is still vibrant and will continue to be, but not in the traditional voice services any more but in data services. Why............? Stay tuned next week.
Nigerian itself is a unique Country. By virtue of all that has happened and is still happening, we should have been a banana republic by now, but it hasn’t happened and that in itself is a marvel.
How come a nation of over 140 Million people without power supply without effective government, without health facilities, roads , discernable transport system, failed education system etc…. and the list goes on, including endemic corruption; still exist as an somewhat organized society with effective economic activities and commerce?
I don’t pretend to have answers to these questions. But from hindsight, I intend to provide what I know, with the hope that the reader may understand why this state still crawls on.
Now, the average Nigerian is a resilient personality, hardworking, proud and enterprising. These qualities might not exist within the governmental circles or the political class hence the decadence and unacceptable excuses in government but the people themselves are. Typical enterprising spirits has been exhibited by the Adenuga’s of GlOBALCOM, the Dangotes, the Femi’s of Otedola family etc and etc. On the other hand, we can give few example of public integrities’ in the telecoms space like the Earnest Ndukwes’s of the NCC, whose dogged determination for creating an equal space for all players has made the telecoms market what it is now in Nigeria.
It is not my style to praise men; in fact I am not a fan of any though I have always maintained that the Adenugas’ represents the enterprising spirit of the Nigerian soul, just as the Daewoo’s and Hyundai of S, Korea or the Ford’s of US. They in my opinion typify the Nigerian spirit which in spite of a comatose government for over 30 years, still nudges on.
I hope I have not distracted you with my socio-politics ok. The fact is the Nigerian is a survival expert. He will not want to be a refugee in another man’s country. He hates to be abused and insulted. I know, this may sound strange to some, especially with the picture of black ladies strolling the streets of major capital of the world as sex hawkers’ majority of who are Nigerians and all the crimes associated with our youths. (You know what I mean….. The 419 syndrome).
While the Nigerian government has been captured by a group of self seeking cabals the people within the space called Nigeria are generally a very good people who have over the years devised various means of survival. Interestingly, you can’t trust statistics coming out of Nigeria at all because none is really reliable because of the complete disconnect between the government and the people. That is why most economic prediction concerning this country has always been made nonsense by practical experience. This in itself has been baffling to economics. I am not one and I am not baffled either. Ask the CBN, they will tell you that the money outside the banking system is more than the ones within the system. Funny hmmm!
The telecoms market also had its fare share of such faulty prediction. Once the space was liberalized, analyst did not give much chance to the market. But today you know better.
Before the launch of the GSM services, Nigeria had only about 30 thousand installed capacity of analogue mobile line and about 450,000 installed capacity of telephone lines half of which was not subscribed. At launch in 2001 Econonet provided only 250,000 lines, MTN, about the same and MTEL around 200,000. Those lines where cleared within months of launch even though then the average cost of ownership ranges between $900 to $300 dollars per line.
Today that market is the biggest revenue earner for MTN having probably the highest ARPU when compared with other MTN country sectors. For ZAIN, this is its unique and special market providing the core of its revenue etc …etc.. Total subscriber number is exceeding 60 Million and we are still counting.
That market is still vibrant and will continue to be, but not in the traditional voice services any more but in data services. Why............? Stay tuned next week.
Once again, a great and thought-provoking blog. Thanks a lot for the enlightenment Henry. Many have been intrigued by the resilience of the Nigerian economy and I agree with you that the answer lies in the hard-fighting individual Nigerian on the streets - who refuses to let his/her spirit to be killed by all the man-made hurdles around. This is even reflected in our football, where individual prowess, rather than teamwork resulting from a foresightful leadership had been absent for too long.
ReplyDeleteAmidst the negativity in all spheres of the Nigerian space, i found some solace in your insight today. Let them steal the country blind, cling on to power till they meet nemesis and continue their gang-rape of our dear motherland. We will survive. Because as a people, we are unique in our survival instincts, piety and resourcefulness. There may be a few bad eggs here and there, but hey, where is the apple pile that is bereft of a few rotten ones? We are a GOOD people and despite our leaders' total disregard to our collective progress, our resilience will outlast their brigandage. Let them keep wondering why the economy has not collapsed because it won't but eventually, their ships will run out of wind.
Sadly, the same applies to many other sub-saharan African countries.