NCC Harps on Continuous Dialogue to Tackle Telecoms’ Challenges

NCC Harps on Continuous Dialogue to Tackle Telecoms’ Challenges

Emma Okonji
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stressed the need for continuous dialogues between the telecoms industry regulator and its various licensees in order to finding lasting solutions to issues negatively impacting licensee’s compliance with extant regulations.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, stated this at a telecoms forum in Lagos, organised recently by the NCC.

The successful hosting of a similar forum in Kano in October this year, led the hosting of the Lagos forum with the team: ‘Improving Stakeholders Satisfaction’.

The objective of the forum was to get direct feedback from licensees on how the commission, as a regulator, is meeting licensees’ expectations.
The programme was also designed to identify areas for regulatory improvement, highlight areas where licensees are defaulting as well as address critical industry challenges undermining full accomplishment of the set objectives for consolidating the gains in the telecoms sector.

According to Danbatta, who was represented at the forum by NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu, the forum was orgainsed in keeping with NCC’s commitment to continually ensure regulator-licensee interactions to develop collaborative solutions and implementation programmes to the challenges of the telecom ecosystem.

“The Nigerian Communications Act (NCA, 2003) invests the NCC with powers and responsibilities for the regulation of both the technical and market-related aspects of telecoms infrastructure and services in Nigeria. We consider our role as regulator very vital to ensuring industry sustainability, because NCC considers consultation as the lifeblood of regulation” the EVC emphasised,” Danbatta said.

Danbatta said such interactions would fit squarely within the five pillars of the commission’s Strategic Management Plan (2020-2024), which include 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 licensees, the Commission is able to gain valuable insights to enhance our regulatory output and enabled us to drive excellence in consonance with the five pillars of our strategic vision for the industry as streamlined in the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), 2021-2025,” he said.

The EVC also reinforced NCC’s belief that only through optional performance by the licensees will Nigeria be able to achieve the national objectives and targets in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025 and other national policy instruments targeted at developing the nation’s digital economy ecosystem.

Also addressing the gathering, the Director, Licensing and Authorisation at NCC, Mohammed Babajika, said the forum was intended to foster a harmonious relationship with licensees, identify their challenges and provide feedback on licensees’ fulfilment of their licence obligations and to re-emphasise the role of licensees in ensuring good quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for the consumers.

Related Articles