Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the Nigerian government increased 4G coverage across the country from 23% to 77.52% under the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He made the revelation on Tuesday at the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja, while identifying advancements in the digital economy.
According to him, in the last two years, Nigeria’s broadband coverage has increased from 33.7% to 44.65%.
He cited the deployment of 5G technology and the exponential growth of the following Nigerian tech unicorns; Flutterwave, O-Pay, Andela, Interswitch, Jumia, Piggyvest, and Paystack, as the most significant contributions of the digital economy to Nigeria’s economic growth.
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.”
About Nigeria’s 5G ambition, its benefits and how it will contribute to Nigeria’s economic growth, he added, “We now have Presidential approval for the 5G policy. In terms of density, 4G allows connection to about 1 million devices in 500 square kilometres, while 5G will allow the same number of devices in just 1 square kilometre. There are also very fast data rates of the 5G and more efficient energy usage.”
According to the Vice President, the cost of data has dropped from N1,200 per GB in 2019 to around N360 today, making it easier for Nigerians to connect to the Internet.