Stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecoms sector are urging for stronger legislative provisions to protect the trade from a number of regulatory pressures and make sure the continued independence of the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC).
The decision was made throughout a panel session in Lagos on Tuesday, organized by the NCC to overview the Nigerian Communications Act 2003.
Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), expressed considerations concerning the rising variety of laws and interference from sub-national authorities. Adebayo particularly pointed to a current incident involving native companies in Kogi State.
“We want stronger laws to protect us from interference by native authorities and conflicting state legal guidelines,” Adebayo acknowledged.
Adebayo added that such actions undermine operators’ capability to ship uninterrupted communication providers throughout the nation.
He additionally emphasised the significance of preserving the NCC’s autonomy, significantly relating to pricing choices, with out exterior interference.
“The success of our trade is due largely to the independence of our regulator,” Adebayo added.
Requires an up to date Nigerian Communications Act
Ms. Chizua Whyte, Head of Authorized and Regulatory Companies on the NCC, acknowledged that whereas the present Nigerian Communications Act had pushed trade progress, it now wanted updating to align with new applied sciences and fashionable challenges.
“We should align the Act with new applied sciences like OTT providers and handle interconnection points,” Whyte mentioned, additional calling for the inclusion of a devoted chapter on communication offences and the safety of nationwide infrastructure within the revised Act.
She additionally proposed the introduction of good licensing fashions and normal obligations for trade gamers throughout the new authorized framework.
Service high quality considerations
Mr. Damian Udeh, Affiliate Director at IHS, identified that service high quality stays a major concern for telecom operators, regardless of enhancements in recent times. He counseled the NCC for prioritizing service high quality however cited exterior challenges equivalent to energy shortages and infrastructure gaps that proceed to have an effect on service supply.
“We’ve seen high quality enhancements, however we want larger empathy from the regulator, given the challenges we face,” Udeh famous.
- Mr. Tobe Okigbo, Chief Company Companies Officer at MTN, prompt enjoyable licensing guidelines to foster innovation, significantly amongst startups and younger entrepreneurs.
- He really helpful implementing a normal authorization or sandbox regime to permit startups entry to information and the power to construct new options.
“We want a normal authorisation or sandbox regime to let startups entry information and construct new options,” Okigbo proposed.
Okigbo additionally emphasised the necessity for regulatory independence, citing the instance of the US Federal Communications Fee (FCC) as a mannequin for Nigeria.
“We should empower NCC to behave independently, free from political interference,” Okigbo mentioned, additional stressing that the NCC’s choices must be guided by its experience fairly than political agendas to make sure efficient governance within the telecoms sector.
Merging companies for larger effectivity
Okigbo additionally prompt that the Nationwide Meeting contemplate merging companies such because the NCC and the Nationwide Broadcasting Fee (NBC) to scale back redundancy and enhance the effectivity of regulatory operations within the sector.
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