Mr. Tony Ojobo
President
African ICT Foundation

The African ICT Foundation is partnering with the UNESCO to host a stakeholders’ engagement for the advancement of evidence-based policy making of Internet governance
The virtual even, which holds Thursday, July 29th is the first of the Foundation’s partnership with global organizations across to the world to deepened internet penetration in Africa.
The event which is jointly organised by UNESCO Headquarters and the African ICT Foundation, seeks to engage in an extensive partnership with the West African Internet Governance Forum community via the newly launched Dynamic Coalition of IUIs, so as to join forces for advancing evidence-based policy making of Internet governance and fostering digital collaboration in line with UN SG’s roadmap of digital cooperation.
The discussion at the forum will focus on Advancing digital transformation in the West Africa Sub-Region via applying UNESCO’s Internet Universality ROAM Principles and Indicators.
The President of the African ICT Foundation, Mr. Tony Ojobo and the Director for Partnership and Operational Programme Monitoring, UNESCO, Marielza Oliveira will give the opening remark at the event that will be moderated by the West Africa Regional Director at the Foundation, Dr Kossi Amessinou and with the Executive Secretary, Mr. Bassey Emmanuel and the Benin Focal Point Director, Nazaire Hounghihin as rapporteur.s
A statement from the Foundation’s Secretariat, in Lagos South West Nigeria, issued by the Director of Communication, Mr. Isaiah Erhiawarien stated that Internet governance-related issues will be addressed and covered during the session.
According to the statement, the Forum will allow national leading experts from West African Sub-Region countries to present their national assessment projects using Internet Universality Indicators and foster further engagement with West African IGF communities and stakeholders.
UNESCO while inviting stakeholders in the region to join and participate in its newly launched Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators, said that the Forum will hold panel discussion with emphasis on knowledge-sharing as well as an interactive session whereby the moderator will allow very short statements from speakers to trigger discussions.
The line-up for the panel discussion are: Chair of Information for All Programme, Ghana, Dorothy Gordon; UNESCO Officer in Dakar, Senegal, Elvis Michel Kenmoe, Benin; Alain Kiyindou, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Niger and Intelligent User lnterfaces Research team leader, Development House, Ghana, Simon-Peter Kafui Aheto.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has exceeded its N36 billion projected revenue from spectrum license fees for 2021, having recorded over N150 billion from this revenue source within the five months of the year.
The figure represents over 400 per cent increase in revenue budget performance in respect of spectrum fees generated by the Commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021, reflecting significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government.
Accordingly, the N150 billion spectrum revenue achieved in the first half of the year has been remitted to the Federal Government in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, which mandates the Commission to remit proceeds from spectrum resources wholly into the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
The Commission, in its 2021 Budget which was considered and approved by both chambers of the National Assembly in December, 2020, projected a revenue of N36 billion from spectrum fee for the year 2021 but has remarkably surpassed this estimate.
Over the years, the NCC has put in place an effective regulatory regime which has significantly facilitated advancements in the nation’s telecoms industry, boosted Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improved the operations of licensees as well as boosted Federal Government’s revenue generation.
Commenting on the revenue performance, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said that the impressive uptick in spectrum fee was the result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector, which at the time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 Budget of the Commission was not clear due to the ravaging impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.
Danbatta noted that the 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably, adding that the Commission believes that enthronement of effective regulation will continue to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.
On October 28, 2020, Danbatta told members of House Committee on Telecommunications while on an oversight function to the Commission that the NCC had generated and remitted N344.71 billion to the Federal Government’s CRF in the last five years.
During the oversight visit, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Akeem Adeyemi, commended NCC’s Management for the feat and urged the Commission “to sustain its regime of effective regulation of the telecoms sector in a manner that would be more mutually beneficial to the industry stakeholders, including the consumers of the telecoms services, the operators and the Nigerian government.”

Segun Ogunsanya
Managing Director/CEO
Airtel Nigeria

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the mobile operating license of Airtel Nigeria has not been renewed for another period of 10 years contrary to a statement credited to Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, the Managing Director/CEO of Airtel Nigeria to that effect.
Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs of NCC said in a statement that “while Airtel Nigeria has applied for the renewal of the Universal Access and Service (UASL) License granted to it by the Commission, the application is yet to be approved as it is still undergoing required regulatory process.”
Adinde made it clear that the Commission had to issue the response for the guidance of its stakeholders.
Ogunsanya was alleged to have claimed renewal of Airtel Nigeria’s license in Lagos on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 during the media launch of the mobile operator’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, ‘Touching Lives 6.’

AppsFlyer, the global marketing measurement leader, has launched a report with Google that reveals a booming African mobile app market, propelled by a growing fintech space, a rise in ‘super apps’, and the COVID-19 pandemic amongst other factors.

Having analysed over 6,000 apps and 2 billion installs across South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, the report found that the African mobile app market showed strong growth, with overall installs increasing by 41%. Nigeria showed the highest growth, with a 43% uplift, followed by 37% in South Africa, and 29% in Kenya.

Showing perhaps the biggest trend, in-app purchasing revenue numbers soared between July and September, with a 136% increase compared to the previous three months. This accounted for a third of the year’s total revenue, highlighting just how much African consumers were spending within apps, from retail purchases to gaming upgrades.

South Africa’s in-app purchasing revenue surged by a massive 213%, with Nigeria and Kenya also showing significant increases of 141% and 74% in the same time frame.

With people spending more time at home, the report found overall app installs increased by 20% in Q2 2020 compared to the previous quarter. On a country level, South Africans were quick to take to their mobiles as the first lockdown hit, with installs of mobile apps increasing by 17%. The situation was more muted in Nigeria and Kenya, with increases of 2% and 9% respectively. These differences are likely due to the varying levels of restrictions experienced by the three countries, with South Africa facing the strictest.

Other key findings

• South Africa and Nigeria saw year-on-year growth in finance app installs by 116% and 60% respectively, as the need to reduce social contact has led to even more users adopting digital solutions for their financial needs.
• Android’s larger market share within Sub-Saharan Africa has seen advertisers spend more budget on the platform. Non-organic installs increased by 54%, compared to 19% for iOS.
  The *cost per install (CPI) on iOS also increased by 21% between Q2 and Q3 2020, which meant iOS app developers were getting fewer installs for the same budget. Towards the end of the year and into 2021, there was no uplift in non-organic installs on iOS compared to 40% on Android.
• The report found similar levels of overall growth across verticals during the year, with gaming installs increasing by 44% and non-gaming increasing by 40%.

Commenting on the trends highlighted in the report, Daniel Junowicz, RVP EMEA & Strategic Projects, AppsFlyer said:

“We’re proud to combine forces with Google to provide businesses with the insights and technology needed to succeed on mobile in Africa. The mobile app space in Africa is thriving, despite the turmoil of the last year. Installs are growing, and consumers are spending more money than ever before, highlighting just how important mobile can be for businesses when it comes to driving revenue.

As a result, mobile marketing is becoming increasingly important for businesses across the continent. Being able to make data-driven informed decisions, and understand the ROI on marketing campaigns will be key to any app marketers’ success.”

Rama Afullo, Apps Lead for Africa at Google, added: “While it’s clear that mobile adoption is increasing, there’s still room for growth when it comes to app marketing, with many marketers in the nascent stage of their app maturity journey.

Taking advantage of app promotion and engagement tools like Google’s App Campaigns, using analytics and measurement tools, and working with mobile measurement partners like AppsFlyer, will be key for companies looking to grow their user base, drive customer value and continue improving the user experience.”

The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been drawn to an online media report alleging that mobile telephony subscriptions in Nigeria somehow grew by 3,000,000 new subscribers in the first quarter of 2021, despite the suspension on the registration of new subscribers which took effect from December 9, 2020 and was only lifted in May, 2021.

The Ericsson Mobility Report cited in the online publication is essentially a forecast of trends based on Ericsson’s analysis and does not refer to the NCC or any official channel as source for its data and/or projections.

It is therefore inaccurate that Nigeria recorded 3million new lines in the 1st Quarter of 2021 as stated in the media report.

We wish to use this opportunity to clarify that the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics are the only authoritative sources of authentic data on the Nigerian telecommunications sector. Indeed, the Commission is well aware of the critical need to make accurate and up-to-date data available to all Stakeholders.

Indeed, as a matter of corporate policy and consistent with international best practice, relevant data and statistics on the industry are transparently reported and regularly updated on the Commission’s website for free use by interested Stakeholders.

The Commission encourages all Stakeholders to visit its website for authentic data on the sector and to refer all doubts to its Public Affairs Department to avoid unnecessary controversy and/or inadvertently misleading other Stakeholders who may rely on such reports.

The Commission also urges Stakeholders to disregard any information on subscriber data different from those presented in the Commission’s website.