The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the number of active mobile subscriptions in the country has reached 220,715,961 million as at August 2023.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this at the 18th Abuja International Trade Fair organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) on Thursday in Abuja.

This year’s 12-day edition of the fair is with the theme: “Sustainable Financing and Taxation’’.

Danbatta, represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mr Umar Alkasim, also said that the number of active internet subscribers was 159,034,717 million, with broadband penetration at 45.57 per cent as at August, 2023.

He said that the competitiveness of Nigerian businesses depended on their ability to leverage on new technologies by acquiring the necessary digital skills to do business on an international scale.

Danbatta said: “In Nigeria today, the number of active mobile subscriptions reached 220,715,961 million as at August 2023, while Teledensity stood at 115.63 per cent at the same period.

“Also, the number of active Internet subscribers was 159,034,717 Million with broadband penetration at 45.57 per cent as at August, 2023.

“In this new environment, the competitiveness of Nigerian businesses depends on their ability to leverage on new technologies by acquiring the necessary digital skills to do business on an international scale.

“This in turn benefits the economy financially.”

He said that NCC’s regulatory efforts in deepening access to digital services would benefit Nigeria and make it competitive comparable with other economies in the areas of job creation and contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth

“Emergence of new services and industries; workforce transformation, and business innovation.

“It is in our response to ensuring that Nigeria is competitive in all these areas that the commission continuously puts a number of regulatory measures in place to ensure seamless access by Nigerians to telecommunications services.

“This is in order to deepen competitiveness of the Nigerian economy by making our businesses and industries digitally compliant,” the EVC added.

To sustain the steady growth of telecoms sector, Danbatta said that NCC would continue to create a conducive environment.

He said that an environment that would stimulate deployment of robust broadband infrastructure to improve the Quality of service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) for telecom consumers, be it individuals or corporates.

“This is because, as a country, we need robust telecoms infrastructure that will help our industries transit to becoming Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven, if we hope to be digitally competitive on the global stage,” Danbatta said.

Earlier, the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mr Umar Alkasim, reiterated that NCC’s commitment was to ensure fair competition and a level playing field for the all stakeholders in the telecommunication industry.

Alkasim, represented by Head, Consumer Policy Development and Monitoring, NCC, Mr Ayanbanji Ojo, said that the commission was safeguarding the interest of consumers from abuse of their rights and privileges against unfair practices in the telecom service value chain. These

“This commitment is demonstrated by the commission’s continuous effort to establish seamless programmes that would Protect, Inform and Educate (PIE Mandate) telecom consumers through various consumer-centric initiatives,” he said.

Popular microblogging app, Twitter has unveiled its new logo.

The new logo was made public by Twitter owner Elon Musk and its new CEO.

The social media app on Sunday hinted that it would ditch its bird logo, be rebranded with the name X and move quickly into payments, banking and commerce, according to AFP.

Founded in 2006, Twitter takes its name from the sound of birds chattering, and it has used avian branding since its early days, when the company bought a stock symbol of a light blue bird for $15, according to the design website Creative Bloq.

Tweeting a picture of the company’s new logo – a white X on a black background – late Sunday night, Twitter chief executive Linda Yaccarino said “X is here! Let’s do this.”

Also late Sunday night, Musk changed his profile picture to the company’s new logo, which he described as “minimalist art deco,” and changed his Twitter bio to “X.com,” which now redirects to twitter.com.

Musk had earlier tweeted that “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make (it) go live worldwide tomorrow.”

Musk also tweeted that under the site’s new identity, a post would be called “an X.”

The changes were not visible on the website as of 0630 GMT Monday.

Musk had already named Twitter’s parent company the X Corporation, and previously said his takeover of the social media giant was “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” — a reference to the X.com company he founded in 1999, a later version of which went on to become payments giant PayPal.

Such an app could still function as a social media platform, and also include messaging and mobile payments.

“Powered by AI, X will connect us in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” Yaccarino tweeted earlier on Sunday.

Yaccarino, an advertising sales executive at NBCUniversal who Musk poached last month to become Twitter’s CEO, said the social media platform was on the cusp of broadening its scope.

“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” Yaccarino tweeted.