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Nigeria's telecom sector is drawing increasing interest from foreign investors....
LAGOS, Nigeria - July 20, 2006 (UPI) -- Nigeria's telecom sector is drawing increasing interest from foreign investors, according to the minister of communications.
Minister Cornelius Adebayo told an industry conference in Lagos this week that the influx of foreign direct investment over the years had spurred an expansion of telecom services in Nigeria from a teledensity of 0.4 percent in 1999 to 18.3 percent this year.
The Lagos newspaper This Day said the annual growth rate in teledensity -- the number of telephones per 100 people -- had grown to 535 percent and increased the nation's total line count to some 23 million.
Adebayo also predicted that streamlined licensing requirements currently in the works would make Nigeria even more attractive to investors.