FDIs in Nigeria’s telecoms sector hit $57.79 million in Q1 2022
Nigeria’s telecommunications sector attracted a total of $57.79 million in foreign direct investments in Q1 2022. This is according to the latest capital importation report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This shows a 2.6% increase year-on-year when compared with the $56.28 million the sector attracted in Q1 2021. The NBS data also reveals that the funds attracted by the telecoms sector accounted for 3.67% of the total capital importation in the first quarter of this year, which stood at $1.57 billion.
The Q1 2022 figure came as a respite for the telecoms sector, which had been consistently recording a decline in foreign investments over the last five years. This was despite the government’s sustained efforts at wooing foreign investors into telecoms, with broadband infrastructure at the heart of various international campaigns.
What you should know
- In 2021, foreign investments in the telecoms sector stood at $107.5 million, a 287% decline compared with $417 million recorded in 2020.
- In the last five years (2017-2021), the sector had only recorded an increase in capital importation in 2019.
- The telecoms sector attracted $944 million in 2019 compared with $114.43 million recorded in 2018.
- It had continued to record an annual decline after the 2019 breakthrough.
However, a research firm, Agusto & Co in a recent report, forecast that the imminent deployment of 5G technology and the Federal Government of Nigeria’s target broadband penetration rate of 70% by 2025, would attract substantial additional foreign investments to the telecoms sector in the near to medium term.
