Author: TechtvNetwork

Data breaches were rampant in 2019, occurring at an unprecedented pace. However, the first half of this year has seen a reduction in the number of reported events. Reported being the operative word.

In the first six months of 2019, more than four billion records were exposed in 3,800 publicly disclosed breaches, according to cybersecurity firm NortonLifeLock.

A publicly reported data breach is one required by state law and reported by a government official; part of a public regulatory filing such as an SEC filing; listed on a company website, social media, news release or breach notice letter or published in an accredited media publication, or disclosed by a recognized cybersecurity researcher or firm, explained James E. Lee, Chief Operating Officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC).

The Center is a non-profit organization established to support identity theft victims in resolving their cases and to educate the public and make it aware of identity theft and associated issues such as data breaches, cyber security, scams, fraud and privacy issues.

Breaches in 2019 included:

Bank holding company Capital One, in March: 106 million records;
Social-planning website Evite, in August: 100 million records; and
American Medical Collection Agency: more than 20 million records breached, which led to the firm’s filing for bankruptcy.
In all, more than 15 billion records were exposed in nearly 7,100 data breaches throughout calendar 2019.

Breaches Subside in 2020
This year however, the number of publicly reported data breaches has fallen.

“During this period, we saw less activity from many threat actors who would normally be making all kinds of havoc,” Adam Kujawa, director of Malwarebytes Labs, told TechNewsWorld. Malwarebytes Labs is the intelligence arm of antimalware software firm Malwarebytes.

The ITRC says the number of data breaches between January and June fell by 33 percent year over year.

During that period, a little more than 163 million individuals were affected by breaches — 66 percent less than in January to June 2019.

Risk Based Security says publicly reported breaches in the first half of this year fell to a five-year low, but still showed a total of 2,037. It said more than 27 billion records were exposed during that period — 12 billion more than were exposed throughout the whole of 2019.

So what gives? Why this huge discrepancy in the numbers?

Differences in methodology, ITRC’s Lee told TechNewsWorld. Risk Based Security includes information from outside the United States, while the ITRC’s data is based only on events in the U.S.

Also, as a national non-profit that provides free services to victims of identity crimes or compromises, “our focus is on the number of people impacted, not the number of records exposed,” Lee noted.

“In mass data breaches or exposures there are multiple records per person, which always means the number of records exposed will almost always be an order of magnitude higher than the number of people impacted,” he said. “There is no one-to-one correlation between people and records.”

Russia, China, and Iran have been caught conducting cyber espionage related to the US presidential race.

by Patrick Howell O’Neillarchive page
September 10, 2020
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia
Russian military hackers responsible for cyberattacks against Democratic targets during the 2016 American election are now targeting over 200 organizations in the United States (including political parties, think tanks, and consultants serving both Democrats and Republicans), according to Microsoft, which is increasingly calling out Russian cyber espionage.

In the final weeks before the November 3 election, the Russian hackers are employing new tactics, tools, and ways to disguise their role in the attacks, Microsoft vice president Tom Burt wrote on Thursday. Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign was specifically targeted by the Russian hackers, according to an earlier report from Reuters, via phishing attacks against the campaign’s communications advisors, SKDKnickerbocker. None of the attacks were successful.

This particular Russian hacking group, called Strontium by Microsoft, is more widely known as Fancy Bear or APT28 and is believed to operate out of Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU. The details of these incidents recall the sustained hacking and information warfare carried out in favor of Trump against former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016.

Fancy Bear has long relied on spearphishing, a hacking tactic that tricks a targeted individual into giving up key passwords. This time, the group is taking a different approach with brute-force and password-spraying attacks, a shift in tactics that allows for both larger-scale attacks and greater anonymity for the attackers.

Microsoft has also spotted state-sponsored hackers in China and Iran targeting individuals involved in both Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s presidential campaigns. But experts say Moscow is the adversary that worries them the most, given Russia’s lengthy track record.

“Multiple cyber-espionage actors have targeted organizations associated with the upcoming election, but we remain most concerned by Russian military intelligence, who we believe poses the greatest threat to the democratic process,” said John Hultquist from the cybersecurity firm FireEye. This particular Russian hacking group is responsible for some of the most provocative and aggressive cyber operations of all time.

“APT28’s unique history raises the prospect of follow-on information operations or other devastating activity,” Hultquist explained.

The newly disclosed hacking attempts underline threats to American election security with the vote less than two months away.

On Wednesday, a new report revealed that a senior Homeland Security official said he had been ordered to stop intelligence reports about current Russian election interference because it “made the president look bad.” According to a newly published whistleblower complaint (pdf), former DHS intelligence chief Brian Murphy claimed he had been asked to stop providing reports of Russia’s activity and encouraged to focus on threats from China and Iran instead.

The department denies the complaint, which arrives against a backdrop of controversial election security moves including the Trump administration’s decision to stop providing the full Senate with briefings on the issue.

At the same time, the US Treasury department announced new sanctions against four Russian-linked individuals for attempts to interfere in the upcoming American election. Three people are allegedly members of the Internet Research Agency, the notorious Russian group conducting malicious information operations on social media.

Apple and Google have announced they’re expanding their coronavirus exposure warning system so health agencies can take part without needing to create a customized app. It’s a significant upgrade to the system, which uses Bluetooth to work out if people have spent extended periods of time near each other and then notifies the close contacts of someone who tests positive for coronavirus. The original system launched in May and has since been adopted by six states in the US and at least 15 countries. Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, DC, will be the first to sign up to use the revamped system, Apple and Google said in a conference call.

How it works: In states or regions that have enabled the “Exposure Notifications Express” tool, a prompt will flash up on phones with the latest version of Apple or Android’s operating system, informing the user that it’s available. Apple users just need to tap the screen to enable it. Android users will still have to download an app—however, the app is automatically generated for public health authorities by Google. All the agency has to do is provide Apple and Google with some basic information and set up servers to host Bluetooth keys and exposure verification.

Why it matters: It’s a promising development at a time when excitement around contact tracing apps has distinctly cooled. Anything that makes it easier for agencies to set up these apps should help boost adoption in the population at large, which is crucial if they are going to help break the chain of infections. However, it’s still not a panacea. These apps will only ever be part of the overall fight against covid-19, which still heavily relies on manual contact tracing, social distancing, and mass testing.

Zoom, video teleconferencing platform has made
a u-turn, to offer end-to-end encryption

Prasid Banerjee
Chief executive officer, Eric Yuan, had in an earnings call said the company does not plan to offer end-to-end encryption to free users as it wants to work with the law enforcement if someone uses its platform for illegal activities

But in a new announcement, the tech platform says it will provide end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to all its users, free and paid. The company said it will do so to to avoid abuse of its platform.

The move is a turn from what the company had said during its earnings call recently. Chief executive officer (CEO), Eric Yuan, had said the company does not plan to offer E2EE to free users as it wants to work with the law enforcement if someone uses its platform for illegal activities. The company faced criticism from both users and experts for the same.

According to Zoom, users on its free/basic plan who want E2EE access will have to participate in a one-time process that will ask for additional pieces of information. This includes verifying the user’s phone number through a text message. The company will also be implementing risk-based authentication “in combination with the current mix of tools” that includes a function to report users.

The early beta of its E2EE feature will begin next month, though Zoom didn’t announce the exact date for this right now. All users will continue getting access to the AES 256 GCM transport encryption by default on the platform, irrespective of whether they use E2EE or not. The primary difference with E2EE is that it stops man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, where a hacker places themselves between the user and the server, allowing them to eavesdrop on conversations. It also means Zoom itself cannot listen to conversations on its platform.

Further, Zoom says E2EE limits some meeting functionalities so it will remain an optional feature. Hosts will be able to toggle the feature on and off and account administrators in enterprises will also have the ability to enable and disable E2EE at the group account level. The statement concludes

Though 5G deployment kicked off in 2019, you’ll see even more 5G phones throughout this year and next. In the US it’s currently live in select cities for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and other regional carriers. The 5G networks for all four major carriers in the UK are live too.

Though it won’t replace 4G in its entirety, 5G is the next generation of mobile connectivity. 5G works super-fast and many industries will benefit from the new network, including the Internet of Things, drones and self-driving cars. Samsung, the most popular maker of 5G phones, has several under its belt including the Galaxy Note 20 phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G and the more budget-friendly Galaxy A71 5G.

Most people will likely experience the benefits of a robust 5G network only through a 5G phone. After all, the grand promises carriers and chipmakers are making with 5G coverage don’t mean much if you can’t access 5G service with your own device. To help you keep tabs on all the latest 5G phones and when we can expect more, here’s what the major phone-makers are offering

While staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic isn’t something we’d ordinarily want to do, a lot of us have found creative ways to curb the boredom by creating routines and finding joys in the little things that ordinarily brought us joy before now. So whether it’s trying out new recipes on that YouTube channel or baking banana bread, all of these are valid reasons to stay busy until we’re expected to go out.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve spent time watching shows and catching up on exciting films on the platform. Before the coronavirus, Netflix had made a move to launch officially in Nigeria. According to most pundits, this move is expected to translate to the onboarding of more Nigerian content on the platform. All of this is strategic, seeing as Netflix recently rolled out two African original series – Queen Sono and Blood and Water, both set in South Africa.

So TechTV Entertainment binge-watched all of the Nollywood films on Netflix and ranked the top ten:

10. The Figurine (2009)
In Kunle Afolayan’s film, two friends find a mystical sculpture that bestows good luck for seven years but has dark consequences in the years that follow. This film is refreshing and offers a breath-taking feel of a very traditional story from a more modern lens. It features the likes of Ramsey Noauh, Omoni Oboli and Funlola Aofiyebi.

9. October 1st (2014)
Nigerian Eye
Again, Kunle Afolayan’s October 1st has been called many things, including a “masterstroke for Nollywood” by Pulse Nigeria and indeed, there’s an element of truth in it. The film, set in 1960, tells the story of a Nigerian police detective dispatched to investigate the murders of women in a small community. It stars veteran actor Sadiq Daba alongside Kehinde Bankole and a host of other stars.

8. Lionheart (2018)
Lionheart
Lionheart crossed off a few firsts in the Nollywood industry – it was the first original Nigerian film by Netflix, the first film to ever be submitted for an Academy Award and the first time that the ‘Julia Roberts of Nollywood’, Genevieve Nnaji, was behind the scenes as a director. Like Genevieve, Adaeze, the film’s lead, is looking to prove her worth and steps up to the task when met with not-so-pleasant scenarios.

7. The Wedding Party (2016)
It is not a reach to say that the Wedding Party ushered a new audience of Nigerian cinemagoers. Till today, the film holds the record for the highest-grossing film of all-time. Directed by Kemi Adetiba, this film gives you a look into everything that is the typical Nigerian wedding, offering you humour and colourful scenes to go.

6. Phone Swap (2012)
Kunle Afolayan’s 2012 film that was originally meant to be an advertising concept is definitely on this list. This film tells the tale of two people from different walks of life who accidentally switch phones and tread in each other’s shoes. Phone Swap is fresh and exciting.

5. King of Boys (2018)
Eniola Salami, a businesswoman and philanthropist with a checkered past is drawn into a power struggle that threatens everything she holds dear. She has to fight and prove herself to be the king of boys in a Kemi Adetiba classic that lasts for about three hours. King of Boys features Sola Sobowale and Adesua-Etomi Wellington, reuniting off their Wedding Party chemistry, as well as stars like Toni Tones, Jide Kosoko and Reminisce.

4. 93 Days (2016)
When the deadliest infectious disease, Ebola, known to man arrives in Lagos, 21 million people are put on the edge. 93 Days chronicles the events surrounding the importation and defeat of the virus, and, in a way, pays tribute to Dr Stella Adadevoh. The film was directed by Steve Gukas and features Bimbo Akintola, Somkele Iyamah and Bimbo Manuel.

3. Isoken (2017)
Isoken
Jadesola Osiberu’s debut is a typical story of most Nigerian women – has a good l…
[15:55, 9/12/2020] Don 2: Galaxy Backbone Explains Role in NICTIB Phase II Loan to Nigeria

Galaxy Backbone has clarified its role in the ‘$400m’ loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project as technology implementation agency of the federal government.

This is coming against the backdrop of recent reports carried by some media organisations on the alleged discovery by the Federal House Of Representatives (HoR) Committee on Treaties, Protocols & Agreements on some identified clauses in the ‘$400m’ loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project which, according to the report, could threaten the sovereignty of our country Nigeria.

In a press statement, Galaxy backbone noted that the said report is not only mis-leading to the reading public but was never a true reflection of the deliberations in the session that Galaxy Backbone had with the Committee on Treaties, Protocol and Agreements.

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) stated that NICTIB Phase II project is a sovereign loan of National scope and for National Infrastructural development in the area of ICT National Broadband between the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning) and China Exim Bank, representing the Republic of China.

According to the statement, “Galaxy Backbone is only an implementing agency under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to oversee the full implementation of the project.

“It is important to note that NICTIB Phase II project is one of the projects in the National Borrowing Plan recently approved by the National Assembly and is yet to commence. It is therefore unlikely and out of place to have insinuation that the National Assembly will raise such allegations.

“Nigeria’s Federal House Of Representatives has through its Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, which is currently reviewing the nation’s loan agreements with nations across the world, on the 28th of July, invited the Federal Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy (Supervisors of Galaxy Backbone, the implementing agency) to discuss the loan agreements in respect of NICTIB phase II and its project implementation.”

The statement added: “in the about 30 minutes engagement between Galaxy Backbone and the House Committee members, the issue of clauses in loan agreement and their potential implications for the Nigerian sovereignty never came up for discussion. The Committee requested for and received updates on the loan bothering on amount involved, maturity date and counterpart funding.

“The attributable loan agreement on NICTIB Phase II, like any other sovereign loan is packaged by relevant and capable legal authorities/institutions of Nigeria which, definitely isn’t Galaxy Backbone.

“Galaxy Backbone as the technology implementing agency of NICTIB Phase II loan and Nigeria ICT Broadband facilitator for National development is committed to the full implementation of the NICTIB phase II project which at its completion, will deepen the Broadband penetration in Nigeria and improve the Internet and Network Communications experience of not just agencies of government, but of the entire nation

Worldwide spending on artificial intelligence (AI) is forecast to double over the coming for years to hit $110 billion by 2024, according to new data from IDC.

The figure, which comes from the analyst firm’s latest Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide, calculates a CAGR of 20.1% as adopting AI becomes a ‘must’ in the enterprise.

In particular, companies will utilise AI to deliver a better customer experience, as well as help employees to become better at their jobs. Automated customer service agents, sales process recommendation and automation, as well as automated threat intelligence and prevention, are the primary use cases outlined by IDC.

Retail and banking are the two industries most likely to splurge in the coming years. The former, unsurprisingly, will focus more on customer experience, while the latter will invest on fraud analysis and investigation, as well as program advisors and recommendation systems.

Other industries have hit something of a proverbial wall, primarily as a result of Covid-19. Transportation, as well as the services industry – including leisure and hospitality – have already struggled with the pandemic. Naturally, IDC argued, AI investments will be on the back burner here in 2020. Yet the pandemic has seen some innovation; the research specifically noted hospitals who were using AI to speed up Covid-19 diagnosis and testing.

“Companies will adopt AI – not just because they can, but because they must,” said Ritu Jyoti, program vice president for artificial intelligence at IDC. “AI is the technology that will help businesses to be agile, innovate, and scale. The companies that become ‘AI powered’ will have the ability to synthesise information, the capacity to learn, and the capability to deliver insights at scale.”

In other words, leading organisations will be able to use AI to convert data into information and insights, understand those relationships and apply those insights to business problems, and then support decisions and bring through automation

Italy’s national broadcaster Rai appears to be looking at in buying into the country’s single high-speed network, and there is interest from the private sector too.

Rai’s board is due to meet later this week to discuss the possibility of taking part in the single network plan, Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The paper claims the state-owned broadcaster’s directors will give the nod to chief executive Fabrizio Salini to make contact with the relevant parties to talk about Rai gaining a seat at the AccessCo table.

AccessCo is the name given to the proposed single network in Italy that will bring together the fixed access network assets of incumbent telco TIM, dubbed FiberCorp, with the rival fibre network Open Fiber, rolled out by state-owned players Enel and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The plan has been under discussion for a number of years, with the issue of control of the entity proving a particular hot potato, but last week TIM gave the go-ahead to an arrangement that will see it own at least 50.1% of the venture but share governance with the other players.

In preparation for the creation of the joint network, TIM has agreed to sell a stake in FiberCorp, an entity that will house its FTTx business and its FlashFiber joint venture with rival Fastweb, to KKR. The private equity firm will pay €1.8 billion for a 37.5% holding, leaving TIM and Fastweb with 58% and 4.5% respectively.

Rai’s first port of call to get in on the act will be talks with CDP, Il Sole 24 Ore reports, which has been a crucial player in negotiating the various facets of the deal so far. As 50% owner of Open Fiber and also a TIM shareholder – it holds just under 10% of the telco – CDP has a foot in both camps.

However, utility company Enel is perhaps the most likely to sell shares. Having once insisted that it would not sell out of Open Fiber, Enel has recently been linked with Australia’s Macquarie, although it has made no formal comment on that score.

You could view Rai’s interest as a further shoring up of the state’s position in the new network, but it makes more sense to look at it from a business point of view, especially in light of the fact that commercial broadcaster Mediaset has also put itself forward as a potential AccessCo participant in recent days.

Rai and Mediaset could look to capitalise on a recent European Court of Justice ruling that essentially overturns an Italian law preventing firms from holding shares in both telecoms and media companies. That ruling was in favour of Vivendi, which has been at loggerheads with Mediaset over its participation in shareholder meetings; Vivendi holds a 28.8% stake in Mediaset (but just 9.98% of its voting rights), as well as being TIM’s largest single shareholder with just under 24%.

In an age in which telcos are increasingly encroaching on the content and media space, rolling out their own TV offerings and snapping up premium content rights, it is hardly surprising that the TV giants are keen to hit back and grab a piece of the fibre action. Or, it could simply be a case of wanting to capitalise on the strong investment potential that network assets offer.

Either way, we could soon the Italian telecoms and media landscape become a whole lot more complicated than it is now. And that’s saying something

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns have been targeted, Microsoft says
Hackers with ties to Russia, China and Iran are attempting to snoop on people and groups involved with the US 2020 presidential election, Microsoft says.

The Russian hackers who breached the 2016 Democratic campaign are again involved, said the US tech firm.

Microsoft said it was “clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts” targeting the election.

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns are in the cyber-raiders’ sights.

Russian hackers from the Strontium group have targeted more than 200 organisations, many of which are linked to US political parties – both Republicans and Democrats, Microsoft said in a statement.

The digital services in the country have contributed over 45% to the gross domestic product [GDP]. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, made this known recently while reacting to the second quarter GDP statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics [NBS]. Dr. Pantami said the contributions of digital services were not factored into the figure released by NBS.

The NBS recently released 17.83 per cent as the contributions of ICT. But Dr Pantami said the ICT has been the enabler of every other sector as the public and private sectors now rely on digital services to achieve their goals. He added that if digital services were factored into the GDP computing, the digital services alone would be contributing over 45 per cent. “The 17.83 per cent GDP contribution for ICT was just for ICT as a standalone sector, this did not include the digital services. The digital economy sector could be more than 45 per cent. The sector is the key enabler of other sectors.

“For instance, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has gone digital to improve their tax collections; the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has also gone digital to improve their revenue collections, and likewise businesses in all other sectors. “This is impossible without technology and with that, digital services are contributing beyond 45 per cent to the GDP,” he said. Dr Pantami said the main challenge confronting the ICT sector is the higher importation against locally produced technology.

“We must increase the percentage of what we produce, we cannot continue to be a consuming nation. In the next few years, we must significantly reduce the percentage of importation, we must come up with policy strategies to achieve this,” he said. The Minister advised corporate organisations in the country to embrace the use of local technologies. “As organisations, let us embrace indigenous solutions, it might give us challenges, this is how other nations developed. Let us give priority to what we produce in Nigeria,” he advised.

Earlier, the Minister had described the Q2 ICT contribution to the GDP as unprecedented. According to him, “the growing contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP is a direct result of the focused and committed effort of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. “The strategic policy directions of the Federal Government include the inclusion of Digital Economy in the mandate of the Ministry, the unveiling and implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the National Broadband Plan, amongst others.

“As of July 2020, the broadband penetration in the country was 42.02 per cent, translating to a percentage increase of almost double digits in less than 1 year. This is another remarkable achievement. “The unprecedented contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP can also be attributed to dynamic and results-oriented leadership which has been acknowledged and appreciated by a wide spectrum of the stakeholders in the sector.” Pantami added that the support of President Buhari has contributed immensely to the impressive developments in the sector.

NBS in the second quarter’s statistics had noted that the non-oil sector contributed 91.07 per cent to the nation’s GDP in Q2 2020 as opposed to the 8.93 per cent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector. “It is worthy of note that the ICT sector contributed 17.83 per cent to the total real GDP in Q2 2020, 20.54 per cent higher than its contribution a year earlier and in the preceding quarter, in which it accounted for 14.07,” the NBS stated.

NBS said, “Nigeria’s GDP decreased by –6.10 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2020, largely attributable to significantly lower levels of both domestic and international economic activity during the quarter, which resulted from nationwide shutdown efforts aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Japan and Saudi Arabia, has launched Connect2Recover, which will reinforce affordable and reliable connectivity in beneficiary countries as they adjust to the “new normal”, occasioned by Covid-19.

The essence of the Connect2R​ecover​ is to help countries recover from COVID-19 by expanding access to affordable and reliable connectivity, especially in selected countries in Africa which are some of the least well connected and likely to be hit hard by the pandemic in socio-economic terms.

“ITU and the wider international community is transitioning from aiding countries with their immediate response to COVID-19 to helping countries prepare for and adjust to a ‘new normal’,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.

He said Connect2Recover represents ITU’s contribution by facilitating socio-economic recovery through the use of digital infrastructure, services and applications. Thanks to the generous support of the Japanese government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

COVID-19 has highlighted that digital infrastructure is not just a convenience, but an essential requirement for full-fledged participation in society and the economy. Broadband connectivity has proved vital in helping countries’ businesses and citizens adapt and respond to the pandemic, enabling them to access the latest health information and continue working, learning and socializing remotely.

Connect2Recover seeks to expand access to affordable and reliable connectivity, which is an essential aspect of countries’ COVID-19 recovery strategies.

Connect2Recover will consist of three key elements.

First, Connect2Recover will develop a methodology for identifying gaps and bottlenecks in the use of digital networks and technologies at country level: to respond to and mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as prepared for any similar emergencies in the future: and to enable recovery and readiness for the “new normal”.

Second, on the basis of this methodology, Connect2Recover will assist countries in assessing their needs, gaps and bottlenecks, and develop strategies to ensure that the digital infrastructure and ecosystems adequately support recovery efforts and the “new normal.” These strategies will be designed in line with global best practices, as well as with other relevant policy tools developed by ITU and other relevant organizations.

Third, Connect2Recover will conceptualize and implement pilot projects to test specific technological solutions in line with national country strategies and policies. The project will also undertake deep-dive studies in specific areas of digital policy as prioritized by the selected countries, such as digital finance, e-education, e-health, e-government, or teleworking

Broadband penetration rose from a meager 6 percent in 2015 to a whopping 42.02 percent in July 2020, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has disclosed.

Danbatta disclosed this during an interactive session with the media where he also gave account of his stewardship as the Chief Telecoms Regulator in the last five years.

The increase in the broadband penetration in the last five years according to him is as a result of the diligent implementation of NCC’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), which focused on the 8-Point Agenda

“We are glad to report that Nigeria lifted broadband penetration from 6 percent in 2015 to 42.02 percent by July 2020,” he announced.

Rolling out other achievements in the last five years, the former University Lecturer revealed that the telecom sector’s contribution to GDP increased from 8.50 percent in 2015 to 14.30 percent in the second quarter of 2020, translating to N2.272 trillion financial contributions in the second quarter of 2020.

Also, five years ago, 217 access gap clusters were identified in the country affecting 40 million Nigerians without access to telecoms services. That has reduced to 114 with 15 million of the 40 million digitally excluded Nigerians now having access to telecoms services. The remaining access gap clusters, which are areas outside the frontier of the economic, will be addressed soon to ensure the remaining 25 million Nigerians have access.

In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Danbatta admitted that FDIs, which stood at $1 billion 2015 in the telecom sector declined to $212 million by 2018. He, however, noted that through regulatory efforts, the FDI in the sector has picked up again reaching $930 million according to recent figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).