GSM and the Nigerian Economy: The Journey from 2004 to 2019

The turn of the 21st century saw Nigeria liberalize its telecommunications sector with the deregulation of the industry, and the introduction of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network platforms in the country. This move had an immediate positive socio-economic impact. Sectors like information technology, banking and finance, online trade, sporting, education, entertainment, security, and healthcare have significantly improved over the years. So far, tens of millions of direct employments have been directly provided via the platform. Furthermore, the country’s GDP attributable to telecommunication has constantly increased since the deregulation of the telecommunication industry. The paradigm shift has since seen the industry grow at a pace faster than most established networks in the world. However, several demerits have also stemmed from this advancement such as cyber-crime, cyber-bullying, blackmailing, and reduced productivity attributed to social media distractions. Even with the apparent progress, it can be concluded that the telecommunication sector is still quite underexploited in Nigeria. The lack of basic infrastructures like constant electricity and accessible road networks across several parts of the country, and the harsh economic policies have severely limited the potential for heightened economic productivity.