It’s too quiet on the telecoms front. Have we forgotten so soon?
An occasion like this calls for reminiscences, at least on the part of those of us who knew what telecommunications in Nigeria looked like before the advent of the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication. The Generation Z (Gen Z) or the ‘digital natives’ may not understand a substantial part of what I am going to say below, because, like one of my friends would usually say when cracking jokes, he would tell us that he had been taking Irish Cream ever since he was in his mother’s stomach! This was someone from the Niger Delta o!
Most of the Gen Z natives were born with telephones literally in their hands and so can afford to take things for granted. They more or less see phones as part of their inalienable human rights! It had not always been so.
One personal experience in those days when it was a curse to be poor in Nigeria; when telephones were part and parcel of the status symbol that distinguished the haves from the accursed have-nots, will do.
Nigeria had about 400,000 active lines before the advent of GSM in the country in 2001. These, definitely, were inadequate for the about 120 million population then. Mind you, these were landlines managed almost entirely by the then all-powerful Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL). Thus, access to telephone was limited; it was costly and difficult to get.
All of these were to be expected in a situation where demand far outstripped supply.
Of course it would be an understatement to say that corruption was the order of the day at NITEL whose technicians used to carry ladders about just like our power sector technicians, whenever they wanted to rectify telephone faults.
Now, to my experience proper.
I think it was sometimes in 2000, when, as a member of the three-man committee (Pastor Patrick Enilama, Biodun Aminu and myself) that was set up by the management of ThisDay newspaper to get outstation offices for the paper and equip them, we had to go to the Port Harcourt office of NITEL to secure one or two telephone lines for the newspaper, which we just rented a luxury apartment for in the city. There, we encountered the brazen extortion that ordinary Nigerians encountered then in their desire to have telephone lines. We had thought that, as journalists from a prominent newspaper, there would be some fear of God in the members of the staff of the organisation. But, the corruption in NITEL was no respecter of persons or institutions.
The personnel told us categorically that we had to wait for our turn to get the telephone if all we came with was our connection with the then Minister of Communication. They said but if we wanted telephone ‘sharp sharp’, then we should know what to do. Otherwise, we should go and queue if it was ‘the minister’s telephone’ (official line) that we wanted.
We were torn between waiting for Godot to get the ‘minister’s telephone’ and getting it faster unofficially. Having learnt that there was no honour among the thieves in NITEL, we caved in and the rest is history.
It was that bad.
But I doubt if our Gen Z know this history. We can’t blame them if they don’t, though, when they were deprived the benefit of studying History as a stand-alone subject in Nigeria’s primary and secondary schools. The consequence of such an ill-advised policy is monumental, especially on the part of the Gen Zs who are largely its direct victims, and even on Nigeria as a whole.
My committee’s experience was just one of the myriad such experiences that people who wanted telephone lines in Nigeria encountered before GSM changed the narrative in 2001.
Thank God there was no social media then. I wonder how our social media handlers would have handled the comment of David Mark, Minister of Communications in the military era who said in 1989 that telephones were not for the poor. Mark was reacting to the debts owed the then state-run NITEL and said the company would disconnect debtor lines and remarked that poor people did not own telephones. This led to the famous newspaper headline: “Telephone is not for the Poor.”
Although Mark later said he was quoted out of context, the point is that he needed not have recanted because even his so-called clarification did not clarify anything. Mark said he only meant that anyone using a phone must be able to afford and pay for it, rather than making a decree locking poor citizens out of communication.
But that same telephone is what every Tom, Dick and Harry now carry about, including those in the villages who would only have been seeing telephones in books and newspapers if GSM had not come.
And, what is more? The telephone that could not go round then was not even mobile. If you had only one line then, you were extremely lucky. It was an indication that you were arriving if you had not arrived. With a landline, you and your neighbours were no longer the same! It was an indication that levels had changed!
To also think that the telephones over which Nigerians scrambled to get then could only be used for conversation! That was all the big-for-nothing box could do, sitting majestically in one corner of the sitting room.
Moreover, to make international calls on those NITEL landlines, you needed to book with the organisation in advance. Even then, there was no guarantee this would go through. You had to physically go to a nearby NITEL office or something, to make international calls. At some point, telephone booths were introduced and we felt on top of the world that Nigeria too was making some progress.
Today, when I see people, particularly the youths clutching handsets or just slipping them into their pockets, I remember it has not always been so. Before GSM, we had phones like Intercellular phones—more commonly called analog car phones and bag phones from the 1980s and 1990s. They were generally bulky and like anything telephone before GSM, they were also status symbol of sorts. Carrying them was problematic because they were bulky. The engine was far bigger than the receiver. But if carrying them was a problem; it was a good problem because many people who craved them could not have them, thereby making them look at some of us who went about with them because of our peculiar official positions, enviously.
From a meager 400,000 telephone lines in 2001, Nigeria now has about 189.68 million active mobile telephone subscriptions. Many Nigerians have at least two lines. Thanks to GSM, even the poorest of the poor in the villages now have access to telephones. ExploringAfrican Heritage
I remember the ecstasy when I made my first call on my first GSM phone, I think sometime in November, 2001. The Sagem phone cost me a whopping N33,000 or thereabout, a little less than my monthly salary. Of course it came with the SIM Card.
Many Nigerians have similar experience.
Today, we stay in the comfort of our homes and dial wherever we want to under the sun. Thanks to GSM. Today, we use our handsets for all manner of purposes: make calls, send short messages, watch videos, play games, chat, talk face-to-face with anyone across the world using data or Wi-Fi, send photos, videos, and large files, stay linked to friends, family, and global communities, transfer money, pay bills, and track finances without visiting any bank.
We also have calendars, reminders, and notes to organise our schedule; read emails, join video meetings, and edit documents on the go.
Other things we also do on our handsets today include finding real-time directions and explore new places easily with the help of Google Maps, call for medical or security aid quickly when trouble strikes, as well as take pictures with cameras on the phones, not to mention the torches and calculators all embedded in the powerful pocket computers that we take for granted today; that is the handset.
One would expect those who revolutionised our lives this significantly to roll out the drums to celebrate their 25 years anniversary. Yes, we still have issues with quality of service. These can be worked on. Twenty-five years or silver jubilee is a landmark. I am talking particularly about MTN and Airtel (ECONET), the real pioneers of GSM in Nigeria. I know that ‘tiwa n tiwa’ (our own) Glo came two years later (2003). So, it would celebrate its own silver jubilee in 2028. Etisalat, once with about 22 million subscribers is for now neither here nor there.
But, one thing Nigerians would not forget with regard to GSM is the liberalisation of the sector that came with it. It came with several advantages, one of which was the per second billing that Glo came with in 2003. Before then, both MTN and the then Econet had behaved as if it was mission impossible. It is the kind of benefit liberalisation should bring, with everyone bearing his father’s name. Imagine paying a whole N30 per minute even if you spoke for only 10 seconds! Or even if the call dropped. ExploringAfrican Heritage
All said, however, unless there are still things in the offing, I feel whatever is going on right now to mark the 25th anniversary of GSM in Nigeria is too little for such a landmark anniversary. These companies have more than gold or silver, considering their activities in Nigeria.
NOTE: Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Theliberationnews
