Ten glorious years have rolled by in Nigeria’s telecommunications history. Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operator, MTN, recently jolted Nigerians to this reality when it rolled out a programme to celebrate the milestone.

Nigeria’s telecoms industry today is the biggest and fastest growing telecom market in Africa and the 8th fastest growing telecom market in the world.

This was brought about by a combination of factors, which include deregulation of the market, conducive regulatory environment and licensing of very serious private investors or operators.

According to a recent report released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) the industry has attracted in the last nine years is about US$15 billion. MTN’s in-country investment alone is in excess of N900 billion. This is aside the $1 billion the company will spend on capital expenditure in 2011.

According to the Corporate Services Executive of MTN, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck, the money will be spent on optimization; expanding the fibre-optic cable network and the micro-wave backbone that the company has built round Nigeria; “as well as improving transmission capacity, building more base stations and substantially increasing the capacity of our network,” . He added that the $1 Billion ear marked for 2011, represented 70% of the capital expenditure for the MTN Group’s West and Central Africa region.

The Nigerian telephone subscriber figure is estimated to be about 90 million active lines (fixed and mobile) and still growing. The potential of the market, in spite of achievements so far, remains enormous.

Market expansion and subscriber numbers are expected to grow exponentially in the next few years even as mobile operators extend coverage to more of the uncovered villages and rural communities.

MTN, for one, has a project ongoing, Rural Telephony Project (RTP), which is aimed at connecting 800 villages across the country by December 2011.

According to reliable sources in MTN, 100 of the villages have already been connected, and going by the company’s track record, there is no doubt that the end-of-year target would be met, and probably exceeded.

Projection for the market is that it will grow to 118 million mobile subscribers by 2014, while the NCC predicts that teledensity will reach between 90 and 100 percent by 2020.

Without any gainsaying, the telecommunications industry in the last 10 years has positively impacted the country and its citizens in a myriad of ways. But perhaps the informal sector is where the impact of the mobile revolution is most visible.

Today, hardly can you find a mechanic, fisherman, tailor, hairdresser, carpenter, vulcanizer or a cattle header without a mobile phone. Business has never been better for the people employed in this sector, and the impact on the economy has been tremendous.

As GSM marks 10 years in Nigeria and as we salute the operators for their accomplishments, it is a useful exercise to reflect over what used to be and what we now have, so that people can truly appreciate the positive changes that have taken place in the last 10 years and also plan how to consolidate the gains in the years ahead.

Goodluck, captured this succinctly recently when he remarked that it is quite possible for people to think GSM has been in Nigeria for more than 10 years, considering its impact so far.

He illustrated that most people would fret more today if they forget their phones at home than if they forget their wallets. It is funny but it is true. The phone has somehow become a very important part of our lives.

And in the few cases when it gets left behind at home, the owner feels incomplete and vulnerable the entire day.

In 10 years, MTN has led a movement that has irreversibly altered and improved the way that Nigerians live, work and play. The very rapid growth of the industry has enabled us in a measly 10 years to achieve what took Europe 50 years to achieve in the telecommunications and ICT space.

Even with all the challenges that we have, telecommunications in Nigeria is an international benchmark for what can be achieved in a Third World economy.

The success of the telecommunications industry here, particularly MTN has debunked the myth that Nigeria is not an investment destination of choice and that one cannot run a successful, ethical business model. This makes me proud.

True that a number of sectors in the country have witnessed unprecedented growth in the last decade, but the financial sector has witnessed a total overhaul as a result of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) revolution.

For instance, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), mobile banking, online real-time banking, electronic fund transfers, local and international debit and credit cards, ePayment and Point of Sale (POS) terminal deployment and so many other technology-driven changes have defined Nigeria’s banking industry in the past decade. A great deal of this entire cutting-edge innovation rides on MTN’s extensive fibre optic cable network and other technological infrastructure built by other providers.

MTN, through a specialised division known as MTN Business is devoted to conceiving and implementing tailor-made communications solutions for such businesses as the banks and multinationals with huge demand for data services across multiple branches and locations.

The division is also making it possible for them to link their ATM machines across the country and provide seamless service to members of the public.

Recently, a detailed research and analysis of the major economic sectors of Nigeria by Corporate Guides International Limited in conjunction with Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) painted a graphic picture of the impact of GSM on corporate Nigeria and the socio-economic development it has brought in the last 10 years.

The sectors named by the report include oil and gas, agriculture, trade and commerce, mining, transportation and aviation, education, health, industry, power and steel, as well as sports and youth development.

The report however admitted that a lot more could be done especially in the application of mobile phones to educational and health service.

Today, in spite of the expansion of the financial industry, penetration is still considered very low as formal banking coverage of Nigeria is estimated at 14% in the last 120 years. Insurance penetration is less than 1%. Experts believe that the mobile platform can be used to improve penetration for these two critical industries.

Experts predict that if the mobile platform is effectively utilised in the insurance industry, penetration can increase by 10% within the next 10 years.

This projection is made on a premise that the country already has over 85 million lines which can be deployed to provide the public various financial and social services.

As GSM rolls into a second decade, the key issue should be maximisation of the mobile platform. According to Mr. Akin Naphtal, Chief Executive Officer, Instinct Group and Publisher, Mobile World magazine, despite the huge numbers of mobile subscribers in the country, corporate Nigeria is yet to maximize the benefits of mobile enterprise, and Nigeria, unfortunately, is left to play catch up among other African nations like Kenya and Ghana.