There Was No Smartphone: A Brief History of Mobile Telecommunication in Nigeria

• Mobile phone telecommunication has had an interesting journey in Nigeria ever since the section was de-monopolised from NITEL
• Private companies like MTN and ECONET were the first set of private companies to get licenses that were worth millions of dollars
• Just as Globalcom came to change the game with per second billing, Tecno's budget-friendly phones gave Nigerians access to smart mobile devices

The evolution of mobile telecommunication in Nigeria will always be an interesting study. It did not begin with the use of smartphones as it is now. Telephoning was considered the exclusive preserve of the rich in society then.

The Guardian gathered that the transformation of telephone communications in Nigeria started in Janaury 2001 when the industry was open to private investors to get operation license. Before that, the industry was only operated by Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

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How did the private companies comes in?

The same media reports that getting an operation license was a week-long ceremony labeled Digital Mobile Licensing Auction. It happened under the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo and was supervised by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC). MTN, ECONET and Communicaton Invested Limited (CIL) emerged auction winners on January 19, 2001.

It was learnt that CIL later dropped out because it could not meet the payment deadline of $265 million, which was to be paid within 14 days after the initial payemnt of $20 million. Another thing to note that each licence was only valid of 15 years. The $20 million was a non-refundable fee.

Two years later, Globacom joined the race as it acquired its license for $200 million. The telecommunication company changed the rule with its per second billing. Others had to play catch up.

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The use of mobile phones

Techpoint Africa reports that the sim card, which has become cheap, used to be as high as N50,000. A person who spoke to the media narrated how Nokia 3310 and Samsung series were the reigning mobile phones of the era. He had to wait years to afford one. In his words:

“I bought my first phone in 2004. It was [a] Nokia 3310. The MTN SIM card cost N25,000 while the phone was N20,000 . It was through a loan which was deducted from my salary in installments.”

The man's first feature phone, later in 2012, was a Nokia C1-01 which he got for N12,000. With it, he got on social media platforms like 2go. This time marked the earliest era of "smart" phones.

Smartphones on a budget

Few could afford phones when the devices became smarter than feature phones in Nigeria. In another report, Guardian Nigeria gathered that Tecno's arrival into the country in 2006 with budget phones changed the terrain.

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By 2007, they came into the market with their first dual sim phone called T780, allowing Nigerians to have two networks in case one fails. Before the company's arrival, Nokia and Samsung dominated the smartphone market.

With the advancement of smartphones and the many accessories that come with them to give great user's experience, one can only imagine what will happen in the next 20 years.

Man bought iPhone for his sister

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a young man surprised his sister with her heart desire, and many people praised him for doing so.

In a TikTok video he made online, he revealed that his sister wanted an iPhone XR and he got it for her.

At the start of the clip, he could be seen sitting in a car as he showed off the iPhone. When he got to his sister's room, she was sleeping.

Source: Legit.ng