From Cyriacus Nnaji, Lagos
Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, has made it clear that the telecoms industry can only achieve the national interest objectives set out in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) and other policy instruments if most (if not all) of the licensees are operating at optimal strength.
He said: “The industry can only achieve the national interest objectives set out in the national Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) and other policy instruments if most (if not all) of our licensees are operating at optimal strength. We are therefore keenly aware of the need to listen to our licensees and address any concerns that may impede the attainment of the relevant policy objectives.”
Danbatta who was represented by Adekeke Adewolu, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management of NCC, took the position in his Keynote at a stakeholder engagement event of the commission, ‘Talk to the Regulator Forum’ which was held at the Four Point Hotel by Sheraton, Lagos on Friday, November 26, 2021.
The theme of the forum was Improving Stakeholder Satisfaction.
Danbatta stated that the ‘’talk to the regulator’’ forum is one of the most important event in the annals of stakeholder engagement diary of the Nigerian communications commission. “This is so because this forum provides us with a unique opportunity to engage with our licensees in a collaborative atmosphere which, in turn, enables us to jointly examine issues that are negatively affecting license compliance and industry growth. It is also an opportunity for us to jointly work out collaborative solutions and implementation programmes in the national interest.”
He spoke further that Regulator-licensee interactions like the ‘Talk to the Regulator Forum’ are critical to industry growth and development, adding “These interaction seat squarely within the five pillars of the commission’s strategic management plan [2020-2024].These pillars are Regulatory Excellence, Promotion of Universal Broadband Access, the Development of the Digital Economy, Facilitation of Market Development, and Strategic Partnering.
Through regular interactions with our licenses, the commissioner is allowed to gain valuable insight to enhance our regulatory output and drive excellence in consonance with the five pillars of our strategic vision for the industry as encapsulated in the commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP, 2021-2025).”
Danbatta said the industry has continue to show improvement in key indices such as contribution to GDP (which grew to 14.42% in Q2 2021), active internet subscription (which reached over 140million at the end of September, 2021), teledensity (which reached 99.98% at the end of September, 2021), and broadband penetration (which reached 40.01% of the population at the end of September, 2021).He stated however, the commission is not resting on these achievements.
He said that the commission is aware that not all the licensees are doing as well as they ought to be doing, adding that several licenses are struggling to pay their staff, many are unable to comply with basic licence obligations, several are defaulting in the payment of their annual operational levies (OAL) and the level of interconnect and other inter-licensee indebtedness is still unacceptably high.
He said “The commission will continue to roll out forward-looking and all inclusive regulatory initiatives to provide market opportunities for all its licensees. We have also committed to the constant review of our licensing framework as well as key regulatory instruments so as to refresh our regulatory framework and ensure better service delivery for consumers and efficient attainment of other national interest objectives.”
According to the Director, Licensing and Authorisation department, Mohammed Babajika, despite the Covid-19 Pandemic and its resultant challenges, the commission is further liberalising the telecoms industry by finalising the framework for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and is currently reviewing existing regulations. He also added that the NCC is finalising the Information Memorandum (IM) for 5G deployment, emerging trends like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Over The Top (OTT services and Big Data Analytics. All these, he said, are all aimed at initiating strategies to improve service delivery that is accessible and affordable.
He said the commission therefore recognises the importance of various service providers, hence the need to constantly engage them with a view to identifying challenges and collectively proffering solutions to them.
On his part, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management of NCC, Mr Adekeke Adewolu, said “It is important to note that this particular ‘Talk to the Regulator’ session is being held at a crucial point in the evolution of the Telecoms sector. The NCC is currently leading the industry to facilitate the rollout of broadband infrastructure so that Nigeria can achieve the target of 70% broadband penetration to at least 90% of the population by 2025 as articulated in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP 2020-2025).
