The beautiful young ladies positioned themselves strategically at the Mike Adenuga Towers in Victoria Island, Lagos. The smile on their faces penultimate Monday morning was not just a welcome tonic to visitors, it indicated that something good was in the offing. The occasion was the launch of two products by Globacom. It reminded one of the contributions of some indigenous companies to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
The clamour for diversification of the country's economy is louder now than ever before. For long, the oil sector has been the engine of the economy, accounting for over 90 per cent of Nigeria's export earnings.
In recent times, the non-oil sector has shown some great promise. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently noted that in the second quarter of 2025, Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 4.23 per cent year-on-year in real terms. In the corresponding period of 2024, it was 3.48 per cent. In nominal terms, the value of the economy stood at N100.73 trillion in the second quarter of 2025 up from the N84.48 trillion in the second quarter of 2024.
The oil sector accounted for much of this growth. This is due to the increase in the average daily production from 1.41 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2024 to 1.68 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2025. From 3.51 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, the oil sector's contribution to the overall economy rose to 4.05 per cent in the second quarter of 2025.
Nevertheless, the non-oil sector contributed 95.95 per cent of the overall share of the real GDP. This sector, comprising agriculture, trade, construction, and real estate, among others, grew by 3.64 per cent in the second quarter of 2025. In the corresponding period of 2024, it grew by 3.26 per cent.
The services sector was one of the top drivers of this growth in the non-oil economy. In the second quarter of 2025, the sector grew by 3.94 per cent as against the 3.83 per cent in the second quarter of 2024.
In the services industry, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which includes telecommunications, is one of the leading sectors. In the second quarter of 2025, the sector grew by 6.61 per cent as against the 4.38 per cent in the corresponding period of 2024. The sector also accounted for 11.18 per cent of the real GDP in the second quarter of 2025, up from 10.93 per cent in the second quarter of 2024 and 10.59 per cent in the first quarter of 2025.
Part of the contributory factors to this growth was the recent increase in subscriptions in the telecommunications industry. From 169.3 million in July 2025, subscriptions rose to 171.6 million in August. Broadband penetration edged up to 48.8 per cent in August from 48.0 in July. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), what drove this growth was the accelerating adoption of advanced network technologies. From 50.9 per cent in July, for instance, the 4G usage rose to 51.2 per cent in August 2025. The 5G adoption rose to 3.3 per cent from 3.2 per cent.
Among the three leading telecommunications companies - MTN, Airtel and Glo - I wish to focus on our indigenous outfit, Globacom, because it is from home that one begins to showcase one's beauty to outsiders. No doubt, this company has been doing a good job of promoting the Nigerian brand. While some others repatriate substantial part of their earnings to their home countries, Globacom engages more with Nigeria and Nigerians. It has done a lot for subscribers, including top businessmen, journalists, entertainers and sundry others. To some, it gives free credit every month. To some others, it offers some products that make it stand out among the lot.
Globacom started operations in Nigeria on August 29, 2003 as the third player. Many Nigerians dismissed the company and felt it would be swallowed by the two foreign players which had already started in 2001. But they were greatly mistaken.
Last August, the company marked 22 years of business in the country. In these years, it has endeavoured to always deliver value to its subscribers and has pioneered innovations that have catapulted the telecommunications industry to what it has become today in Nigeria.
At the unveiling of its two new customer-friendly products at its head office in Lagos on Monday, September 22, 2025, the company spoke of delivering more value to existing customers and wooing new ones. It calls the first product, "Talkmasta 6 for 6", and the second one, "Welcome Bonus". The "Talkmasta" aims at rewarding customers with unlimited talk time and data.
According to the company, customers who make six minutes of local calls to any network under this plan will automatically receive six additional free minutes, which can be used to call any local network and free 50MB. It said the package could be enjoyed by both new and existing customers. New customers enjoy the offer once they buy a Glo line, while existing customers are required to dial *606# to migrate to the plan. This plan has no limit to the number of times or the volume of free minutes and data that customers will enjoy.
For the Welcome Bonus offer, new subscribers who register a Glo SIM, recharge with a minimum of N100, and make their first call instantly receive a one-time welcome package worth N2,000. This translates into free N1,000 airtime equivalent to 25 minutes of calls to all networks and free N1,000 data equivalent to 1GB of browsing valid for seven days. The company described this as the best welcome back value in the market.
Glo had crashed the cost of acquiring SIM cards from about N25,000 to about N200 and pioneered the per second billing system when other companies said it was not possible. It was said to be the first to implement the 2.5G network in Nigeria. Some other innovations of the company include Blackberry Services, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), International MMS, Inflight Roaming, International Prepaid Roaming, Glo Mobile Internet, Mobile Banking Services, Text2Mail, Magic Plus (a comprehensive bouquet of information services on a phone browser), and Glo Always On.
Also, the company was reported to be the first to offer international SMS connectivity to over 547 networks in 152 countries. It was the fastest to attain one million customers on the continent in less than nine months. Within 18 months of launch, Glo covered 357 cities and towns covering over 3,400 communities. It was reportedly the first to commercially launch 3G Plus services and Voice SMS. In 2016, it accomplished a nationwide launch of 4G-LTE network in Nigeria. Its recently launched 4G LTE advanced technology, which is faster, stronger and better, combines 3 spectrums of 700MHz, 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz to provide better internet experience to customers.
This indigenous company said it was the first in Africa to build an international submarine cable single-handed. Its submarine cable, Glo 1, built in 2010, connects West Africa directly to the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. The undersea cable delivers a faster and robust connectivity for voice, data and video and is known to have crashed the cost of internet services. The company is embarking on laying Glo 2, the first submarine cable in Nigeria to terminate outside Lagos. This will take bandwidth beyond Lagos to other parts of Nigeria, especially the oil platforms.
Plans are at advanced stage by the company to roll out satellite-based internet services to rural communities and under-served areas in the country. This is essentially to complement the company's 4G LTE advanced network to offer unlimited benefits to communities which do not yet have internet connectivity.
The transformation of the company from being just a voice and data services provider to being a digital solutions provider has positioned it to offer such Information Technology solutions as e-Health, Smart Cognitive Learning, Smart Energy, and Cloud Applications.
Glo's wide area network (WAN) and leased lines offer businesses the ability to create endless value for their customers. Its International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) reportedly provides its customers with dedicated point-to-point secure private line solutions that facilitate connectivity for organisations with global offshoots through a fast and reliable system. With this, business owners can have control over their business from anywhere in the world with two-way transmission speeds ranging from 2 megabits per second (Mbps) to 100 gigabits per second (Gbps).
Both the government and people of Nigeria should support indigenous companies like Glo to do more and contribute to the growth of the country's economy.
Some policy changes, for instance, could help manufacturing companies to export processed goods, which will be more advantageous to the country than exporting raw commodities. Government should also help bring down the high cost of living to make the growth in the GDP more meaningful to the citizens.
It should upgrade our infrastructure to enhance optimal performance of businesses. A good transport system, no doubt, will engender seamless movement of goods and services. A railway line from Lagos to Calabar, for instance, will go a long way in facilitating the export of goods and services. Constant electricity will also help. Telecommunications and other industries need energy to thrive. Currently, most of them depend on their own source of power which ultimately adds to the cost of operations.