The announcement is contained in the latest telecommunications statistical indicators released by the  NCC.

The indicators are said to have been adjusted to reflect the latest population growth figures and align with international best practices.

According to NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, in a statement, the adjustment which was reflected in the telecom industry statistical reports of September, October, and November 2023 published on the commission’s website, was predicated upon the Nigerian Population Commission, NPC’s projection of Nigeria’s population at 216,783,381, as of 2022, replacing the previously used 2017 projection of 190 million people.

He said with the consequential adjustment, which is in line with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s calculation of teledensity, the nation’s teledensity dropped from 115.63% to 102.30% in September, while Broadband penetration witnessed a similar drop from 45.47% to 40.85% in the same month.

The statement reads in part: “However, the active voice subscription statistics witnessed a marginal growth from 220,361,186 to 221,769,883 as of September 2023.

“In addition, Internet subscriptions also enjoyed a marginal growth, from 159,034,717 in August 2023 to 160,171,757 in September 2023.

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“In October 2023 the industry also experienced a 0.19% growth in Active Voice subscriptions while teledensity stood at 102.49% with Internet subscriptions increasing by 0.60% compared to September 2023.

“In November of the same year, the industry also experienced a 0.46% growth in Active Voice subscriptions. Teledensity stood at 102.97% with a 0.57% increase in Internet subscriptions when compared to October 2023.”

The NCC spokesman explained that “Teledensity is an index prescribed by the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, for the measurement of telephone penetration in a population by a factor of one line per 100 individuals in the population.”

The adjustment by the commission was said to be consistent with Section 89 Subsection 3(d) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (NCA 2003), in which the commission was mandated to monitor and report on the state of the Nigerian telecommunications industry, provide statistical analysis and identify industry trends concerning services, tariffs, operators, technology, subscribers, and issues of competition.

Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, was said to have affirmed the nation’s telecom statistical adjustment process as an appropriate step to maintain the integrity of data about the Nigerian telecom industry as collected, collated, and published by the Commission.

He noted that that would also ensure the accurate measurement of the commission’s progress towards attaining increased broadband penetration rates, improved quality of service, and increased population coverage, among other targets set out in the Strategic Plan for the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.

He also said such data provided information for both the International Telecommunications Union to which Nigeria belongs, and other development agencies as well as the operators, investors, multilateral agencies, and the public.

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The goal of the initiative is to stimulate sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria.

The announcement was made in a statement issued in a statement by the Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka.

He said the commission had invited Tech Hubs, and Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDEs) in Nigeria to enrol their start-ups and their solutions in the Talent Hunt Research through a Hackathon organised by NCC.

The Hackathon focuses on Blockchain-enabled Data Protection Solutions for Enhancing Regulatory Compliance; Assistive Technology Solutions for the Elderly and People with Disabilities; and Technology Solutions for Renewable Energy in Rural Areas.

The NCC Talent Hunt Research Through Hackathon leverages Emerging Digital Technologies to facilitate the development of home-grown innovative solutions and local content development in the telecommunications sector while fostering economic growth and social advancement in Nigeria.

The competition enables the translation of novel ideas into the development of hardware/software solutions that address industry and societal challenges.

The best three solutions, one from each of the three areas listed above will receive grants of N10 million each for the development of the solutions.

The commission has set out eligibility criteria for those seeking to participate in the competition, which include that the Enterprise must provide a certificate of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, the Enterprise must not have previously received support from the Commission, the project should have clear relevance to one of the three thematic areas above, it must provide a clear problem statement, proposed solution, and roadmap to deployment.

Other requirements include a proof of concept (which may also include technical feasibility of the idea with diagram, algorithm, existing models, or case studies; the solution must be novel with the applicant making a declarative statement on ownership of the intellectual property, the solution including prototype development shall be concluded within 6 months of receipt of the grant and must propose a detailed commercialization plan of the prototype.

The entry submission format indicated that the proposal must include ideation.

Minimum Viable Product, MVP, and solution, Current Sweat Equity Investment, Product-Market Fit status, Verifiable Go-to-Market status, Growth Feasibility Assurances, Maturity Model and Timeliness and existing time: Disaster Recovery, where applicable.

All applications should be made online and must follow the stipulated entry format and there is no financial cost to participating in the competition while full control and ownership of the intellectual property of the developed solutions remain with the commission.

The entries must be made by a Tech Hub/Innovation-Driven Enterprise that must show evidence of the relationship with the Start-up/solution being entered, a 4-page executive summary of the project concept, a 3-5 minute video of the pilot project, names, age, contact details, passport photos and profile of all team members and the website (if available) as well as an e-mail address of the applicant.

All interested and qualified enterprises should submit requested documents in a zip folder to https://ncc.gov.ng/talenthuntresearchhackathon2023 with the subject of the mail titled “Submission from <business name>” and the zipped file named after the business.

The commission has run an advertorial on the Hackathon for three weeks and has requested those in the startups ecosystem to note that the application will close on Friday, September 22, 2023.

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It explained that that was part of the counter-measures to lessen the chances of falling for a malicious attack that has been discovered in the browser.

The NCC-CSIRT further advised users of the browser to practise safe Internet browsing habits and to refrain from clicking on links they are unsure of in the face of the malicious attack that has been rated as high in probability and potential damage to systems.

The advisory stated that the malicious advertising campaign, unearthed on the Microsoft Edge Browser News Feed, redirects victims to fraudulent tech support websites and that cybercriminals have resorted to posting bizarre, attention-grabbing stories or advertisements on the Edge news feed to entice users to click on them.

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The malicious advertisements appear legitimate but contain malware and/or other threats.

According to the advisory, “The Microsoft Edge News Feed is the default page that appears when a new tab is opened, and it displays information such as news, advertisements, weather, and traffic updates. Also, the following are the steps that result in being redirected to a bogus tech support page: The user clicks on a story or advertisement, the Edge browser setting is analysed for various metrics.”

Based on the aforementioned metrics and prior results, the advisory said “if the user is adjudged to be a bot or in a location that is not of interest, the user is redirected to a harmless dummy page that is relevant to the story or advertisement initially clicked on; However, if the user is adjudged a potential victim, then the user is redirected to a tech support scam website for further exploitation.”

Victims of the tech support website scam could have their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and other data harvested or they could be with malware.

The NCC, therefore, urges telecom consumers and other stakeholders in the ecosystem to install up-to-date AntiVirus software and be alert to the wiles of cybercriminals in order not to fall victim to cyber scams.

The CSIRT is the telecom sector’s cyber security incidence centre set up by the NCC to focus on incidents in the telecom sector and as they may affect telecom consumers and citizens at large.

The CSIRT also works collaboratively with the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team, ngCERT, established by the federal government to reduce the volume of future computer risk incidents by preparing, protecting, and securing Nigerian cyberspace to forestall attacks, and problems or related events.

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