EFFECT OF TWITTER BAN ON TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF MTN, GLO AND AIRTEL)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The information and communication technology industry includes the telecommunications (telecom) market. The market’s main activity is operating and providing access to facilities for voice, data, text, and video transmission (Businesswire, 2016). Telecommunication is the conveyance of data via cable, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic networks using a variety of methods (ITU 2015). Its origins can be traced back to humans’ urge to communicate.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 97 percent of the world’s population has access to a mobile cellular signal, with 93 percent having access to a 3G (or higher) network. Over 95% of the population in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe is covered by a 3G or higher network.

Over 95% of the population in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe is covered by a 3G or higher mobile broadband network. The figure is 91 percent in the Arab States, 88 percent in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and 79 percent in Africa. Men have a higher share of mobile phones than women in 61 of the 85 nations that provided statistics on mobile phone ownership (ITU, 2019).

However, there has been a huge increase in total active subscriptions since the introduction of GSM in Nigeria. According to the Nigeria Communication Commission (2020), a total of 184,699,409 subscribers were active on voice in Q4 2019, compared to 179,176,930 in Q3 2019 and 172,824,239 in Q4 2018.

Voice subscriptions increased by 3.08 percent quarter over quarter and 6.87 percent year over year. Similarly, 126,078,999 internet subscribers were active in Q4 2018, compared to 123,163,027 in Q3 2019 and 112,065,740 in Q3 2019. This marked a quarterly increase of 2.37 percent and a year-over-year increase of 12.50 percent in internet subscribers.

However, when the Federal Government imposed an official ban on Twitter, this crucial sector of the Nigerian economy was thrown into disarray. Twitter is a microblogging and social networking website based in the United States that allows users to send and receive messages known as “tweets.” Unregistered users can only view tweets, while registered users can post, like, and retweet them. Twitter is accessed via a website interface or a mobile device application software. To summarize, this social network can be evaluated using mobile data provided by telecommunication providers, therefore there is little doubt that such a restriction will have an impact on the telecommunications sector’s profitability in Nigeria. As a result, the purpose of this study is to look at the impact of the Twitter ban on Nigerian telecommunications businesses.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

On June 5, 2021, the Nigerian government imposed an indefinite ban on Twitter, prohibiting it from operating in the country, after the social media platform deleted tweets from Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warning the Igbo-dominated south-east of the country of a possible repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War ( (CNN 2021). The removal of the President’s tweets was cited as a factor in the decision, but it was ultimately based on “a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real-world violent consequences,” according to the Nigerian government. Despite the fact that Amnesty International, the British and Canadian embassies in Nigeria, as well as domestic organizations such as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), have all condemned the ban, its implications are likely to have a significant negative impact on the profitability of Nigerian telecommunications companies. According to the Social-Media-Poll-Report (2020), more than 120 million Nigerians have internet access, which is enabled by mobile data consumption, and approximately 40 million of them — 20 percent of the population — have a Twitter account. Thus, banning Twitter in Nigeria will inevitably result in significant losses for telecommunication providers, not just in terms of profit but also in terms of customer engagement, which will inevitably lead to a decline in data usage.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The major goal of this research is to look into the impact of the Twitter ban on Nigerian telecommunications providers, utilizing MTN and Airtel as case studies. The research will focus on

1. Determine the impact of the Twitter ban on Nigeria’s telecommunications industries.
2. Examine the amount to which TELECOM products, such as data, were consumed by Nigerian Twitter users prior to the embargo.
3. Examine whether the latest Twitter ban will have an impact on the revenue and
4. profitability of Nigeria’s telecommunications companies.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study will be guided by the following research question.

1. What is the impact of the Twitter ban on Nigeria’s telecommunications industry?
2. What percentage of TELECOM products, such as data, were utilized by Nigerian Twitter users prior to the ban?
3. Will the latest Twitter ban have an impact on the income and profitability of Nigeria’s telecommunications industries?
4. Do you believe the Twitter ban has had a substantial detrimental impact on Nigeria’s telecommunications industry?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings and theoretical aspects of this work will be relevant to the major players in the Nigerian TELCOM sector, as well as the Nigerian government, because this study depicts the nature of the Twitter ban effect on the telecommunication industries and the significant roles played by this sector under study. More importantly, the study will be extremely beneficial to students, researchers, and other anyone who may be interested in gathering or doing research on the subject at hand.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The focus of this research is on the impact of Twitter on Nigerian telecommunications firms. As a result, the scope of the research is confined to MTN and Airtel telecommunications centers in Lagos State.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The following are some of the study’s limitations:

Finance: Due to the economic difficulties that many people, including the researcher, are facing, a bigger sample size, which would have allowed the study to reach a wider region, has become impossible; as a result, this work is confined to the Nigerian MTN.

Time: It’s not surprising that the researcher’s time was limited, as this posed a direct threat to the thorough coverage sought in this report. The researcher intended to interview all of the employees of the selected TELECOM company, but due to the researcher’s multiple activities, which include academics, job schedules, and other social activities, it became difficult to explain the objective.

Respondents’ attitudes: The majority of workers fail to collect the surveys, and those that do pay close attention to filling out and returning them, while others do not return them at all. Others were less cooperative, and may have offered untrustworthy information out of fear of being exposed, despite the researcher’s assurance that all material would be kept in strict confidence and used solely for educational purposes.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Telecommunication refers to the transfer of data via cable, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic networks using a variety of methods.

Telecommunications Industry: All telecommunications/telephone firms and internet service providers are part of the telecommunications industry, which plays a critical role in the expansion of mobile communications and the information society.

Twitter is a microblogging and social networking website based in the United States that allows users to send and receive messages known as “tweets.” Unregistered users can only view tweets, while registered users can post, like, and retweet them.

Twitter is a microblogging and social networking website based in the United States that allows users to send and receive messages known as “tweets.” Unregistered users can only view tweets, while registered users can post, like, and retweet them.

Twitter Ban: This is the official halt in the functioning of Twitter, as decreed by the Federal Government of Nigeria on June 5th, 2021, until the proprietors of the social network meet the government’s newly stated requirements.

REFERENCE

Nigeria bans Twitter when the corporation deletes President Buhari’s message, according to CNN (2021). On the 5th of June 2021, I was able to get a hold of some information

Chijioke, Ohuocha (5 June 2021). “Telecoms companies in Nigeria have blocked access to Twitter.” Reuters. Retrieved on the 7th of June, 2021.

The Washington Post is a news organization based in the United (2021) “Nigeria suspends Twitter after the president’s account was frozen by the social media platform.” The ISSN number for this article is 0190-8286. On the 5th of June 2021, I was able to get a hold of some information