1.1 Introduction
The telecommunications (telecom) market is a part of the information and communication technology industry. The market is primarily engaged in operating and providing access to facilities for the transmission of voice, data, text and video (Businesswire, 2016). Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic systems (ITU 2015). It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication. Telecommunication firms use innovation to ensure sustainability in the market. Firms innovate to ensure that they can sustain their existence in the industry and develop competitiveness for the market (Christensen et al. 2011: 5).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Since the early 1990’s, the telecommunications industry has experienced significant changes. These changes evolved from fixed telephony with limited use such as voice calls to more modern mobile technologies expanding use and functionality such as text messaging, android services, and mobile apps such as mobile banking (Aker and Mbiti 2010: 220). During this period, state monopolies operated the industries which were also characterized by poor quality of products and services. Because of this, structural changes of reforms in the industry began in the developed countries (Starr 1990).
According to Wikipedia (2021), On 5 June 2021, the Nigerian government officially put an indefinite ban on Twitter, restricting it from operating in Nigeria after the social media platform deleted tweets made by the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warning the south eastern people of Nigeria, predominantly Igbo people, of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War due to the ongoing insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the President's tweets factored into their 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" (Wikipedia, 2021).
The ban was condemned by Amnesty International as well as the British and Canadian missions and the Swedish Embassy in Nigeria. Two domestic organizations - the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Nigerian Bar Association - have indicated intent to challenge the ban in court. Twitter itself called the ban "deeply concerning" (Wikipedia, 2021).
According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 97 percent of the world population lived within reach of a mobile cellular signal and 93 percent within reach of a 3G (or higher) network; while in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, over 95 per cent of the population is covered by a 3G or higher mobile broadband network. In the Arab States the figure stands at 91 per cent; the Commonwealth of Independent States, 88 per cent; and Africa, 79 per cent. Of the 85 countries that provided data on mobile phone ownership, 61 have a higher proportion of men with mobile phones than women (ITU, 2019).
Since the introduction of GSM to Nigeria, there has however been a significant improvement as total active subscriptions. According to the Nigeria Communication Commission (2020), telecoms data for Q4 2019 reflected that a total of 184,699,409 subscribers were active on voice as against 179,176,930 in Q3 2019 and 172,824,239 in Q4 2018. This represented 3.08% increase in voice subscriptions Quarter-on Quarter and 6.87% Year-on -Year. Similarly, a total of 126,078,999 subscribers were active on internet as against 123,163,027 in Q3 2019 and 112,065,740 in Q4 2018. This represented 2.37% growth in internet subscriptions Quarter on-Quarter and 12.50% Year -on -Year.
However, uncertainty met with this important sector of Nigeria when the Federal Government gave it official ban on Twitter. Twitter is an American micro blogging and social networking service on which users post and interacts with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through its website interface or its mobile-device application software. Suffice to say that this social network can be assessed using mobile data provided by telecommunication companies hence it is no doubt that such ban will have an effect on the profitability of telecommunication sector in Nigeria. Therefore it is upon this premise that this study set to examine the effect of twitter ban on telecommunication companies in Nigeria.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
On 5 June 2021, the Nigerian government officially put an indefinite ban on Twitter restricting it from operating in Nigeria after the social media platform deleted tweets made by the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warning the south eastern people of Nigeria predominantly occupied by the Igbo people of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran Civil War ((CNN 2021).The Nigerian government claimed that the deletion of the President's tweets factored into their 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".
Although the ban was condemned by Amnesty International, British and Canadian missions and the Swedish Embassy in Nigeria as well as domestic organizations like - the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the implication of this ban is likely to have a significant negative effect on the profitability of telecommunications companies in Nigeria. According to Social-Media-Poll-Report (2020), More than 120 million Nigerians have access to the internet which is made possible through mobile data usage and nearly 40 million of them have a Twitter account — 20% of the population. Thus banning of twitter in Nigeria invariably means that telecommunication companies will have a great deal of loss not just in profit but in customer engagement which will likely come with a decrease in data usage hence a hard time for the business. Therefore it is against the backdrop that this study is set to examine the effect of twitter ban on telecommuting companies in Nigeria.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to investigate the Effect of Twitter Ban on Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria using MTN, GLO and Airtel as a case study. In achieving this aim, the specific objectives were laid out as follows;
- To ascertain the nature of twitter ban effect on the telecommunication industries of Nigeria.
- To investigate the extent to which TELECOM product such as data were consumed by twitter users in Nigeria before the ban.
- To examine if the revenue and profitability of Telecommunication industries in Nigeria will also affected by the recent twitter ban.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Do you think there is a significant negative effect of twitter ban on telecommunication industries in Nigeria?
- Does twitter ban on affect Nigeria citizens using twitter as a source of revenue for small and medium scale enterprise or business?
- What is the nature of twitter ban effect on the telecommunication industries of Nigeria?
- What is the extent to which TELECOM product such as data were consumed by twitter users in Nigeria before the ban?
- Will the revenue and profitability of Telecommunication industries in Nigeria be affected by the recent twitter ban?
- How useful is twitter towards small and medium scale enterprise or business in Nigeria?
1.6 Research Hypotheses
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
- H0: There is no significant effect of twitter ban on MTN, GLO, 9mobile and Airtel telecommunication industries in Nigeria
- H1: There is a significant effect of twitter ban on MTN, GLO, 9mobile and Airtel telecommunication industries in Nigeria
1.7 Significance of Study
This study portrays the nature of twitter ban effect on the telecommunication industries and also the significant roles played by this sector under study, it is therefore pivotal to note that the findings and theoretical aspect of this work will be relevant to the major players in the TELCOM sector of Nigeria and even the Nigeria Government.
More so, the study will also be significantly useful to students and researchers and other individuals who may have the interest to gather or carryout any study related to the topic under study.
1.8 Scope of the Study
This study is focused on the Effect of Twitter Ban on Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria using MTN, GLO and Airtel as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definitions of Terms
Telecommunication: This is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic systems.
Telecommunication Industry: The telecommunications industries within the sector of information and communication technology is made up of all telecommunications or telephone companies and internet service providers and plays the crucial role in the evolution of mobile communications and the information society.
Twitter: Twitter is an American micro-blogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them.
Twitter Ban: this is the authoritative pause in the operation of twitter as mandated by the Federal government of Nigeria on June 5th 2021 until the owners of the social network meet the newly established requirement given to them by the government of Nigeria.
Social media: the term social media refers to the internet-based social networking website developed to specifically help people share their views and stay in touch with their friend, relatives and well wishers.
Journalism: this is the practice of writing, editing and disseminating of information to the public.
Modern Journalism: it is a term used to describe the new era in journalism where internet and computers are use in almost every journalistic activity.
Media: media in this study is Twitter social media networking tools which journalists use to disseminate information to a large heterogeneous audience.
