Over 100m SIMs produced locally in 1 year- NCC

Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) says over 100 million Subscribers Identity Module (SIM) has so far been produced locally within a year of the first Nigeria Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo. This was made known by Aderonke Sola-Ogunsola, NCC’s Head of Financing and Stakeholders Engagement Team at this year’s AFRICANXT on Thursday in Lagos. Sola-Ogunsola spoke on “Mandate and Strides Towards Full Digital Economy in Nigeria”. She said that the country could serve as manufacturer of SIM in West Africa through the Nigeria Telecommunications Indigenous Content of the NCC. She said over 100 millions of SIMs had been ordered by various telecommunications  companies, putting an end to the importation of SIM and an attainment of a fully digital economy in Nigeria.

Sola-Ogunsola said that at the 2022 indigenous  content expo in Lagos, the Federal Government  banned the importation of SIMs into the country. According to her, Nigeria Telecommunications Indigenous Content is to encourage innovation among the youths and promote the digital economy. ‘’There is the need to ensure individuals, businesses and the nation harness derivable benefits and the opportunities offered by the emergent digital culture, to improve quality of life, grow businesses, and leapfrog the national economy.

‘’This remains the overarching objective of government policies, plans, and strategies,” she said. The Head, Digital Skills and Services, NCC, Freda Bruce-Bennett, said that Nigeria was rapidly  becoming a digital economy. Bruce-Bennett said that out of seven tech unicorns in Africa, five were Nigerian companies, namely Andela, Flutterwave, Interswitch, Jumia and Opay According to her,  NCC is working with tertiary institutions and the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) on how youths could build their capacity. Head, Spectrum Administration, NCC Abraham Oshadami noted that digital economy could not exist without needed infrastructure, saying, “globally, infrastructure is the bedrock for adequate broadband penetration”. Oshadami said that Nigeria had taken the lead by providing wireless resources because there were policies to deploy the infrastructure and make them work.

According  to him, Nigeria has done well in the entire Africa, by being at the forefront of making resources available to provide high speed broadband leveraging on satellite  and technology. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN ) reports that the ongoing AFRICANXT, formerly called Social Media Week, is an annual event held in February. This year’s theme is: ‘’Cooperate. Collaborate. Innovate. Unlocking Our Potential, Ensuring Africa’s Prosperity”.