Vice president of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo recently disclosed that Nigeria witnessed tremendous growth in 4G coverage across the nation with an improvement from 23% to 77.52%.
He revealed this at the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja while discussing improvements made in the digital economy.
He said, “In August 2019, the broadband coverage was 33.7% and today it is 44.65%, representing close to 13 million new broadband users. There were 13,823 4G base stations and we now have 36,751, representing a 165.86% increase.
“The percentage of 4G coverage across the country also increased from 23% to 77.52%. The expansion has also been helped by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy directly engaging the.
“We now have Presidential approval for the 5G policy. In terms of density, 4G allows connection to about 1 million devices in 500 square kilometers, while 5G will allow the same number of devices in just 1 square kilometer. There are also very fast data rates of the 5G and more efficient energy usage”.
Prof. Osinbajo further emphasized that the digital economy is one of the major achievements of the Buhari-led administration, noting that the rapid expansion of broadband access has been a game changer that has positively impacted the nation’s economy.
There is no disputing the fact that Nigeria has continued to record a significant increase in broadband internet coverage. In two years, there was a notable increase which saw it rise from 33.7% to 44.65%.
The unprecedented success in the area of broadband penetration can be attributed to the enabling policies established by the federal government in its commitment to digitalize Nigeria, through the National Broadband Plan of 2020-2030 which targets a 90 percent penetration rate in terms of population and a 70 percent rate in terms of total land mass.
These are vast improvements over the 4G network in Nigeria, with positive impact recorded in different sectors. With the recent deployment of 5G in the country, which comes with a high data speed and low latency, it will also impact the economy compared to the 4G network, Investors King understands.
The adoption and rollout of 5G networks will significantly boost Nigeria’s socioeconomic ecosystem. Due to its high capacity, the 5G will propel the nation’s ambition for smart city development, smart transportation, and digitalized healthcare while also boosting industrial automation across the nation.