Reaching critical mass in Nigeria's telephone industry

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Reaching critical mass in Nigeria's telephone industry
Author:	Onwumechili, Chuka
Year:	2005
Periodical:	Africa Media Review (ISSN 0258-4913)
Volume:	13
Issue:	1
Pages:	23-40
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Nigeria West Africa
Subjects:	telecommunications communication telephone
Abstract:	The sudden and rapid growth in access to telephones in Nigeria has raised major questions for telecommunications scholars. Access to telephones in Nigeria had been marginal by the end of the twentieth century, with the teledensity rate well below 1:100 for a country of an estimated 130 million persons. Today, over 10 million Nigerians have access, improving the teledensity to 13:100 in barely five years. Growth rates are currently over 100 percent per year. This article examines how this has happened. How was the industry turned around? Has critical mass been reached? Has the rate of growth become self-sustaining? The article explores these issues, using the theory of critical mass as the framework for analysis. It concludes that a critical mass of users has been built in the urban centres of Nigeria and that access is rapidly approaching the saturation point. In addition, it argues that much more needs to be done in order to achieve similar growth rates in the rural areas. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]