Telecommunication sector increases contribution to GDP by 1.0 per cent

A new report by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has revealed that the telecommunications sector contributed N 1. 58 billion, or 9.8 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter .

This represents an increase of 1.0 per cent points relative to the previous quarter, according to the statistics released earlier in the month.

From the rating, this is the largest contribution to GDP made from this sector in the rebased period, which emphasised that growth in telecommunications has remained robust when compared to total GDP.

However, due to differing seasonal patterns, the contribution from telecommunications is usually the largest in the second quarter.

Although growth in the telecommunications sector remained positive, in contrast with the economy as a whole, year on year growth nevertheless dropped in real terms from 5.0 per cent in the previous quarter to 1.5per cent, the lowest rate since 2011 Q3.

The share of telecommunications in total real GDP had declined throughout 2010 to 2014, but for the last five quarters growth in telecommunications has been higher, meaning the trend has reversed.

From the report, the total number of subscribers has increased rapidly over the past decade; at the end of 2005 there were 19,519,154 subscribers, but by the end of 2015 there were 151,017,244, which is equivalent to an increase of 13,149,809 every year. However, growth has been declining more recently, possibly as a result of high market penetration leaving less room for large expansion.

This increase is despite a sharp drop in CDMA subscribers; between June 2015 and June 2015 the number fell from 2,105,981 to 454,092, a decrease of 78.44 per cent.

Although CDMA remains the second most popular technology type, this decrease has meant that the GSM technology type has entrenched its position as the dominant provider of mobile subscriptions.