The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the telecommunications sector contributed N1.54 trillion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2017.

NCC’s  Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta disclosed this while receiving the visiting Chairperson of Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), Madam Angelique Weeks.

Danbatta said that the figure was derived from recently released Bureau of Statistics’ report on the economy.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its second quarter Gross Domestic Product GDP report had on Aug. 29 announced Nigeria’s exit from recession after it slumped early 2016.

He said the figure showed that the telecommunications sector contributed 9.5 per cent to the GDP in the second quarter of the year.

According to him, the figure represents a 6.68 per cent increase from the first quarter’s contribution of N1.45 trillion.

“We are very proud of the remarkable contributions the sector is making.

“Even in the recent times when the whole economy was facing challenges, the sector has remained resilient and stable,” the NCC boss said in a statement.

On data usage, Danbatta noted a remarkable increase in the usage of data by Nigerians at a monthly usage of about 40 million terabytes.

He said the country would undergo a massive ICT transformation by the time the excess data capacity at landing point in Lagos was deployed to the hinterland through licensing of Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos).

According to him, broadband penetration in the country is currently at 21 per cent with Nigeria inching toward 30 per cent penetration in 2018 in line with the national broadband target.

Danbatta said that the commission had approved spectrum trading as part of the components of the government’s 8-Point Agenda.

He said the trading would maximise the benefits of spectrum to ensure that no acquired spectrum was left un-utilised.