Nigerian businesses prefer to make use of fixed line telephony for outgoing calls rather than mobile and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).
The latest research by the IDC reveals 42 per cent of Nigerian enterprises’ outgoing voice traffic is made over fixed line connections, 33 per cent via mobile connections, with VoIP and private network solutions accounting for the remaining 25 per cent of outgoing voice traffic.
According to the researchers, price is the single biggest influencing factor this preference.
“Nigeria is a very price-sensitive market and IDC is of the opinion that the lower tariffs offered by fixed-line operators are the primary motivator for enterprises choosing this particular medium,” said Oluwole Babatope, telecommunications and networking research analyst with IDC West Africa.
“However, with unified communications gaining traction in Nigeria, VoIP adoption by businesses is expected to grow because it offers an even cheaper platform for making voice calls.”
The IDC said operators providing multiple services under one contract and bill will prove most popular as businesses start to adopt new technologies, with enterprises focusing on providers who offer cost reductions overall.
“The most important factors influencing the selection of a network provider by Nigerian businesses are pricing and the quality of service and support. Quality of service has been a major challenge for enterprises in Nigeria in recent years, and IDC expects enterprises to increasingly gravitate toward network providers that can demonstrate consistent quality of service and offer price points that match their budgets,” Babatope said.
Meanwhile, poor network quality of service (QoS) and slow data-transfer speeds are hampering the uptake of machine to machine (M2M) technologies in Nigeria, the IDC said.
According to the IDC, only 30 per cent of Nigerian businesses have implemented any form of M2M technology, with security monitoring, fleet management, and point-of-sale machines comprising the bulk of M2M technologies in use.
Advanced M2M technologies are not used at all in Nigeria, with the research analysts saying the low uptake of M2M in the country is accountable to unreliable connectivity.
“IDC believes connectivity will be a major driver for the future adoption of M2M and the Internet of Things (IoT),” the research firm said.
“Connectivity in Nigeria is currently not very reliable, and even the country’s telecommunications regulatory body – the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) – has raised concerns about the quality of service levels among operators.
“However, with the regulator keen on implementing a national broadband policy, IDC expects voice and data connectivity to improve considerably over the coming years and thereby facilitate greater uptake of more complex M2M/IoT technologies.”
HumanIPO reported in May the IDC released research revealing Kenya leads Africa in M2M adoption, with Kenyan uptake expected to increase further over the next three years; although the researchers said limited IT personnel and the service offerings of providers hampers implementation of M2M technologies.
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