Regulation of Foreign-Owned Telecom Companies and Public Investment in Nigeria-Owned Telecom Companies

Abstract

Telecommunication sector is one of the fastest growing industries in Nigerian economy. However, Nigeria in her quest to regulate foreign-owned telecom companies adopts the sector-specific regulatory approach in its telecommunications market by the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) which has attracted more investors to participate in the industry. Essentially, this paper is targeted at providing empirical linkage between the regulation of foreign-owned telecom companies and public investment in Nigeria-owned telecom companies. The paper also x-rays the protective measures as guidelines for regulation of the Nigeria-owned telecom companies as well as the challenges faced by investors. Methodologically, the study relied on much of the data scooped from secondary sources which were analyzed qualitatively. Using the Neo-liberal theory of the state as a framework for analysis, the paper discovered as findings that despite the existence of the protective measures as guidelines for regulation of foreign-owned telecom companies with a view to attract more investors to participate in the industry, investment in local telecom networks and services still lie low due the fact that it is constrained by a number of challenges which limit operators’ incentives to invest. Based on these findings, the paper recommended among others that effort should be geared towards addressing the challenges while increasing the level of investment in the Nigeria-owned telecom companies.