The boom in the mobile telecommunication subsector of the communications industry in Nigeria in the last one decade has created immense opportunities, through which shrewd entrepreneurs can make sustainable income. In the aggregate opinion of stakeholders in the subsector, the mobile telecommunications business has emerged the highest in terms of job creation and opportunities development.They note that the emergence of Global System of Mobile Communications companies, 10 years ago, has remained a major feat ever achieved by the Nigerian government, especially on account of the vast opportunities in the system, which has given it an apt description of a worthy dividend of democracy.According to the stakeholders, the opportunities and prospects in the industry have availed both skilled and unskilled personnel in Nigeria varied chances of making easy income. The belief is that there exists a wide range of business ideas, which any person with interest in the sector can delve into.The Managing Director, Johnson Mobile Plaza, Ojo, Lagos, Mr. Omena Johnson, outlines some business opportunities, which came up as a result of the boom in Nigerias telecommunications industry. According to him, these include sales, distribution and supply of mobile phones, accessories, air time, Subscriber Identity Module cards (SIM cards), mobile soft ware and other income making opportunities in the repair and servicing of handsets and other phone hardware.He says, The number of persons in Nigeria, who derive their livelihood from this industry may be difficult to compute, considering the spread and diversity the telecommunications industry has provided.You cannot draw a line and say this is the only area, where one can generate sustainable revenue, especially when talking about businesses in this sector. There are many aspects in this line of work from which anyone can choose. All that is required is for the individual to ensure that he is committed to his business.Johnson, who sells mobile phones, notes that income generation is dependent on the particular business aspect and the scale or size of the business outfit.He explains that returns made by those who deal in the sales on telephones on a medium scale gross up to between N200,000 and N300,000 monthly. Besides, he says the income generated by large scale mobile phones suppliers could only be imagined.You can only imagine what big-time mobile phone dealers make per month, and how this has impacted our economy, he says.The Chief Executive Officer, Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited, also called Etisalat, Mr. Steven Evans, tells our correspondent that GSM companies globally has over four billion subscribers.He notes that the industry is still expanding and that more business opportunities abound for interested persons, adding that astute individuals have the prospect of making good income, and have been doing so since the commencement of mobile telecommunication technology.He says, It is incredible today to know that we are talking about four billion subscribers, not like in those days when there were only seven million subscribers worldwide. The question on most peoples lips was: Do you think it is going to be possible for the mobile phone to become a product that will be available for most consumers'This was because in those days, owners of mobile phones were managing directors, general managers and chief executive officers of businesses and about seven million of those people over the world had access to phones. So the big question was whether the mobile phone was going to ever become a consumer product for the masses, or was it going to always become a business product'According to Evans, the good thing is that today the mobile phone has become an item that billions of individuals have access to. He adds that the industry has also created opportunities both for skilled and unskilled persons.The telecommunications market holds a lot of opportunities both for multinational companies and for the small and medium entrepreneurs. The most important thing is being able to find a need at any particular location, which the services of telecommunications can meet, he says.Speaking also on the vast opportunities inherent in telecommunications, Ebube Stanley, a graduate of Computer Science, who deals in large scale distribution of air time, explains that when it comes to the use of mobile phones, Africa is truly undergoing a revolution.He notes that the continent has more mobile phone users than fixed-line subscribers, adding that mobile phones have revolutionised Africa during the last few years and that more Africans.Stanley says that the GSM handset market in Nigeria has recorded an unprecedented boom and that the development has impacted positively in the various businesses in the telecoms sector.I cannot say this is the actual amount which you can generate monthly or yearly because this depends on location, scale of business, type of business and ability to penetrate the market. But what I will say is that the boom in the telecoms sector has really taken a lot of graduates out of the unemployment market, he says.In March this year, the Nigerian Communications Commission said the countrys GSM subscriber-base rose to 83 million active GSM lines. Of this figure, MTN had 38,683,520; Globacom 19,627,415; Airtel 15,834,243 and Etisalat 6,791,986.
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