Telecommunication
Telecommunication is communication at a distance by
technological means, particularly through electrical signals or electromagnetic
waves.
Early telecommunication technologies included visual
signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags,
and optical heliographs.[7] Other examples of pre-modern telecommunications
include audio messages such as coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud
whistles. Electrical and electromagnetic telecommunication technologies include
telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter, networks, radio, microwave transmission,
fiber optics, communications satellites and the Internet.
A revolution in wireless telecommunications began in the
1900s with pioneering developments in radio communications by Nikola Tesla and
Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for his
efforts. Other highly notable pioneering inventors and developers in the field
of electrical and electronic telecommunications include Charles Wheatstone and
Samuel Morse (telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Edwin Armstrong,
and Lee de Forest (radio), as well as John
Logie Baird and Philo Farnsworth (television).
The world's effective capacity to exchange information
through two-way telecommunication networks grew from 281 petabytes of
(optimally compressed) information in 1986, to 471 petabytes in 1993, to 2.2
(optimally compressed) exabytes in 2000, and to 65 (optimally compressed)
exabytes in 2007.[8] This is the informational equivalent of two newspaper
pages per person per day in 1986, and six entire newspapers per person per day
by 2007.[9] Given this growth, telecommunications play an increasingly
important role in the world economy and the global telecommunications industry
was about a $4.7 trillion sector in 2012.[10][11] The service revenue of the
global telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.5 trillion in 2010,
corresponding to 2.4% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
main line in use
Telephones - mobile cellular: Recent deregulation of the mobile phone
market has led to the introduction of Global System for Mobile
communication (GSM) network providers operating on the 900/1800 MHz
spectrum, MTN Nigeria 1, Airtel 2, Globacom 3 and Etisalat 4. Use of cell-phones have soared, and
have mostly replaced the unreliable services of the Nigerian Telecommunications
Limited (NITEL).
The current estimate lies at about 88 million mobile phones as at October 2011,
with most people having more than one cellphone.Nigeria's telecom regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), introduced the Unified Licencing Regime with the expiration of the exclusivity period of the main GSM network providers. It is hoped that the telcos with the unified licence would be able to provide fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access as well as any other communications service they choose to offer. NCC, as of, March 2011, also started registering sim cards. The exercise is expected to last till September 28, 2011.3
Telephone system: Major expansion is required and a start has been made. New cellular phone introduction has fixed the communication problem to a large part.
domestic: Intercity traffic is carried by coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, a domestic communications satellite system with 19 earth stations, and a coastal submarine cable; mobile cellular facilities and the Internet are available
international: Satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat (4 Atlantic Ocean and 3 Indian Ocean); Coaxial submarine cable SAFE (South African Far East), 2 Glo 1 Atlantic Ocean,[4] 1 Main One Cable Atlantic Ocean.[5]
Radio broadcast stations: AM 83, FM 36, shortwave 11 (2001)
Radios: 23.5 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 116 stations (40 cable stations) (2007)
The largest broadcasting companies are the government-owned Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) 5 and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) 6. The NTA has two television services. One is NTA 1, which is distributed among NTA's six television zones. The other is NTA 2, which is distributed nationwide and is funded mostly by advertising. Nitel owns a majority of the transmitters that broadcast FRCN and NTA programming.
Each state also has a broadcasting company that broadcasts one or two locally operated terrestrial stations. This means that there are about 50 government owned, but partly independent television stations. A lot of private players in the Nigerian television scene are Silverbird Television (STV) 7, Africa Independent Television (AIT) 8, Channels Television 9, Superscreen Television 10 and a host of many others . Most of their programming is aimed for the African and global markets, but is broadcast globally from Lagos, Abuja, Obosi and Port Harcourt centers. With several affiliate TV stations in some African countries. The African Independent Television (AIT) 11 is a high profile satellite television station broadcasting globally from its Lagos and Abuja centers. Other direct satellite television stations with international reach operating in Nigeria are Murhi International Television, ON Television, Galaxy TV, TV Continental etc. all in Lagos.
There is general access to cable television like DSTV, 6 a South African cable television station, broadcast over satellite. M-Net has offices in most Nigerian cities, and is watched by a large number of people. hiTV, 7 DaarSat, 8 StarTimes 9 and Infinity TV 10 are just other examples of cable TV in Nigeria.
NB: Some of this information given can change anytime.Televisions: 56.9 million (2007)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 11 (2000). There is satellite access to Satellite internet providers all over the countries. In most towns in Nigeria, there are many public internet Cafes, privately owned and operated, and often connected over internet connections.
A new dimension to internet connectivity has been introduced with hundreds of thousands of people now accessing the internet on their WAP-enabled mobile phones, smartphones and on their PCs using their phones as a modem. This is largely due to the introduction of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)and EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution connectivity by the GSM operators. All existing GSM networks presently offer GPRS services and have introduced of 3G/UMTS.
VSAT has remained the best solution for remote internet access in Nigeria. One of the leading VSAT service providers is Syscomptech, they were voted the best Direct VSAT Marketers in 2008 and maintains satellites with direct footprints over Nigeria.
Internet Hosts: 1,968 (2006)
45 Million (2010)