Minister of Communications Cornelius Adebayo said that Nigeria would be the biggest mobile network market in Africa by 2010. Speaking at the Unified Licensing Stakeholders Forum, Adebayo said that telecommunications have come a long way since the transition of the country from military to civilian society in May 1999. Nigeria's tele-density has increased from 0.4% in May 1999 to 14% at the end of last year. During the same period, the number of lines has increased from less than 500,000 to over 20 million. Newspaper Sun quoted Adebayo as saying that investment in the sector increased from US$50 million in 1999, to more than US$10 billion in 2005. Adebayo was all praise for the new Unified Licensing regime, which enables competing operators and service providers to deploy new services to meet market demand without having to seek new licenses.