Seven years on, mobile telecom boom works changes in Nigeria

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

ABUJA (AFP) — Seven years after their launch, mobile phone services have transformed Nigeria's society and economy, bringing unprecedented changes in just a short time, officials say.

Earlier this year, Nigeria, Africa's most populous country outstripped economic powerhouse South Africa as the continent's biggest market for mobile telephony.

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) head Ernest Ndukwe told AFP that as of March 2008 there were total of 60.9 million phone subscribers -- that is 70 times more than before mobile services were launched in the country in 2001.

The opening up of the industry came with the licensing of three Gobal System of Mobile Communications (GSM) operators -- South Africa-based MTN Nigeria, Econet Wireless Nigeria (first known...