The GSMA has urged the Federal Government to release more mobile broadband spectra in the country, saying it will have a positive impact on annual GDP growth and increase government tax revenue, DAYO OKETOLA writesThe GSMA, a united front for over 800 mobile operators in the world, has urged the Federal Government to release additional mobile broadband spectra in the 800 Megahertz and 2.6 Gigahertz bands by 2015, saying such a move will unlock unparallel socio-economic growth in the country.According to a report by the GSMA and Plum Consulting made available to our correspondent on Friday, Nigeria will experience increased GDP, increased government tax revenues and economic emancipation for several millions of its population leaving in penury, if additional mobile broadband spectra are released.Spectrum or radio-frequency spectrum is generally defined as the entire electromagnetic frequencies used for communications, radio and television broadcasting.Experts say broadband Internet uptake is very vital to the countrys socio- economic growth, but lament that only six per cent of Nigerians currently have access to broadband services, with 74 per cent of them doing so through mobile broadband.This is due largely to inadequate fixed line telecoms infrastructure, which is the principal vehicle for broadband Internet usage in developed countries.In view of the foregoing, the GSMA says the timely release of more mobile broadband spectra in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands is very critical to mobile broadband penetration in the country.The 800MHz spectrum band, also known as the digital dividend, is currently being used for analogue TV broadcasting but there are plans to migrate to digital broadcasting by 2015.The industry expects this digitalisation of the countrys broadcasting system to free up more mobile broadband spectra by 2015.The Director, Spectrum Policy, Africa and Middle East, GSMA, Mr. Peter Lyons, who spoke with our correspondent over the telephone as well as via e-mails on Friday, reiterates that the economic and social benefits of early release of more mobile broadband spectrum are numerous.Examples of such benefits, according to him, include more productive farming through online access to key information; a stimulus to the development of local e-commerce businesses; enhancing delivery of teaching and training materials to rural schools and reducing the cost of health care delivery by 10-20 per cent.He further says increased mobile broadband spectra in Nigeria are estimated to result in around a 1.1-percentage-point increase in non-oil GDP growth by 2020.In absolute terms, this is equal to N1.283bn. Year -on-year non-oil GDP growth will still be around 0.4 percentage points higher in 2025, even though much of the early effect of mobile broadband penetration on GDP growth is assumed to have disappeared by then, he says.He, however, cautions that if the release of the required mobile broadband spectra is delayed, there will be no additional GDP improvement in the country until 2020, adding that the unrealised additional GDP will increase from N28bn in 2015 and N857bn in 2019.There will also be a loss of additional potential tax revenue, which amounts to N7bn in 2015 and N214bn in 2019, he adds.Lyons explains that making additional mobile broadband spectrum bands available in 2015 will increase Nigerias capacity for effective mobile broadband subscribers by over three-fold in 2020.In total, the spectrum will give operators network capacity for up to 74 million effective mobile broadband subscribers. Networks will only be able to support a maximum of 16 million subscribers in the absence of the extra spectra, he says.Lyons explains further that the impact of releasing additional spectra is very significant, adding that the extra capacity will enable mobile operators such as MTN, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat, Visafone, Multi-Links and Starcomms, among others, to offer service to support the forecast growth in the number of effective mobile broadband subscribers.According to him, the country is forecast to have 67 million broadband subscribers in 2020, if additional spectra are made available and 17.6 million if not.The Special Government Advisor, GSMA, Mr. Ross Bateson, who also says mobile broadband could contribute over N862bn to the nations economy by 2015, cautions the government against inaction in this regard, adding that such will not augur well for the economy.It is essential that the Nigerian government acts quickly to support mobile broadband expansion, as failure to do so could hinder the countrys social and economic growth. Not only could the country realise as much as N862bn of incremental GDP, but the people of all ages and livelihoods would benefit from the vast amount of information and opportunities mobile broadband can unlock, he says.While the call for action on mobile broadband spectrum heightens, the Nigerian Communications Commission laments the non-availability of spectra in the country, adding that it can hamper quality of telecommunications services if not addressed.As such, the Executive Commissioner, NCC, Dr. Bashir Gwandu, in Lagos recently, disclosed that the NCC would, in 2012, meet the International Telecommunications Union for more spectrum allocations to boost telecoms services in the country.He says, I can tell you currently that we dont have more spectra to give at NCC. The spectrum we have as you know is the 2.3GHz and we are trying to auction its last slot. Then we have 2.6GHz, which we have not really licensed for international mobile telecommunications services.We are going to ITU next year to ask for more spectra. We will not go as a country alone but also as a continent to say we want more spectra because of the huge data that is going to be growing in this continent. That growth has to be accommodated somehow. We currently also have affordability challenges and to overcome these myriads of challenges, we are pushing for additional spectrum at ITU.Gwandu notes that the spectrum being used for broadcasting in the country is so huge, adding that it has become important for the country to define the spectrum by digitalising television programming so that more spectra will be freed and become available for telecom services.The NCC stalwart, who notes that non-availability of spectrum is not only peculiar to Nigeria but common across Africa, attributes the situation to heavy reliance on wireless communications on the continent.He says, Availability of spectrum has been a major challenge for African countries including Nigeria. This is so because we rely heavily on wireless communications, coupled with the fact that, the needed infrastructure including fibres and copper are not fully available. Though we could say, we have some in Nigeria, but the transmission channel has been a major challenge.Several telecoms industry players in the country have been calling on the government to unlock more spectra to be able meet to the countrys digital transformation agenda.Meanwhile, the GSMA also urges the governments of Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania and the entire sub-Saharan Africa to urgently release harmonised spectra for mobile broadband.Lyons, the GSMA director, says that increased spectra will also generate an additional $82bn in GDP per year and help lift 40 million sub-Saharan Africans out of poverty by 2025.According to him, increased spectra will lower the cost of mobile devices, improve speed of data communication, and ultimately help nearly 40 million Africans escape poverty.He says, If governments in sub-Saharan Africa allocate more spectra for mobile broadband over a 10-year period from 2015, this would result in $235bn of additional GDP and $50bn in additional tax revenues. However, if the release of spectra is delayed by five years, then these benefits would fall to $50bn in additional GDP, and $10bn in additional tax revenue. Action is required now to secure the future connectivity and economic empowerment of African citizens.Telecoms analyst, operators and industry watchers admit that if the number of effective mobile broadband subscribers increases in the country, it will have a positive impact on the annual growth rate of GDP and governmental tax revenues.
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