With a $1 billion commitment to a five-year rollout and expansion plan, the new owner of Nigeria Telecommunications Limited Nitel (now ntel), NATCOM Consortium, projects over 50 million subscribers in Nigeria by 2020 as it prepares to launch the network's full commercial operations next month in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos.

Ntel's CEO, Kamar Abass, presented the plan to a delegation of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria in Lagos recently and emphasised the deployment of pure 4G LTE network to be transmitted on Goldilock system with speeds of up to 240 Mbps.

Though congested, figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that as at December 2015, the local telecommunications market featured over 150 million active mobile (GSM) subscribers, about 100 million active internet subscriptions (GSM) and over two million mobile (CDMA) subscribers. The country's population currently stands at about 190 million.

NATCOM's ambition is largely dependent on the outcome of fierce competition between ntel and other existing telcos in the country – MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat.

According to the NCC mobile telecommunications operators recorded an approximate 11.9% increase in the number of subscribers between 2014 and 2015.

As far as ntel is concerned, this supports its proposition that Nigeria's telecommunications market can accommodate a new telco and one with such a huge subscriber figure expectation - despite the sector having attained 100% subscriber teledensity in January 2015.

Going for records

If ntel realises its target within the given timeframe, it would be a record first since the launch of GSM operation in Nigeria in 2001. NCC figures show that MTN, which launched its services in the country in 2001 following the abysmal performance of Nitel as the sole service provider at the time, is the only telco to have crossed the 50 million mark fifteen years later with over 62 million subscribers today.

The other telcos, which have been operational for at least a decade stand, are positioned around the 30 million mark.

The NATCOM Consortium's financial strength and its choice of technical partner, Ericsson, for hardware provision - masts and cell sites for signal reception – is expected to play a major role in ntel's success. So will 4G LTE technology, touted as the next big thing in mobile GSM communication, particularly for better video content downloads.

Due consideration might also be given to the fixed wireless market. Out of the initial 13 registered CDMA operators in the country, only two were operational as at last year - Visafone Limited and Multilinks Telkom - with few loyal customers to service.

Last month, the NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Umar Danbatta promised attractive incentives that will encourage GSM and other licensed CDMA operators to roll out fixed telecoms services across the country rekindling the hope that the sector would be revitalised this year.