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Tag: ATCON

  • UK, ATCON partner to close digital divide

    UK, ATCON partner to close digital divide

    The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom (UK) government and Initiative for Digital Inclusion (IDI), in collaboration with the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) are set to host a Technical Conference on Sustainability of Last-Mile Connectivity Providers in Underserved and Unserved areas in Nigeria.

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    At the conference which is scheduled to hold on March 27th 2024 in Abuja, the findings and recommendations from a technical study on Capacity-Building and Testing Business Models for Sustainable Last-Mile Connectivity in Underserved and Unserved Areas in Nigeria for instituting a positive change of sustainability in the operations of internet service.

  • ATCON seeks clarification on 95.7m ‘invalid’ SIM data

    The Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has advised the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) clarify discrepancies in the data submitted to it by telcos in the ongoing Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card registration across the country.

    It also faulted the conversion of what would have been know-your-customer (KYC) data of between 92 and 95 per cent pre-paid telecoms subscribers to a crime-fighting tool when the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  has the mandate to mine such data.

    Its President, Olushola Teniola, who spoke on the sideline of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association in Lagos, said the word data ‘scrubbing’ was unknown to telecoms while data management is not telecoms but information technology (IT).

    According to Teniola, there was no uniform SIM card registration criteria at the beginning. He added that the operators did what they felt was necessary. “If you can recall in 2012, I was in Abuja, we used to queue; I queued, so whatever methodology they used, whether it was thumbprint or you have to bring an ID, or whether, it was different because from one operator to the other, they have different processes, not too far different, but I never questioned whether it was the same process that was done by operator A or operator B. The sense that I got at that time was that the NCC was going to consolidate the information from all the operators. If you can recall, it took up to three attempts to get the exercise right. So, the period they seem they have enough information, to allow the exercise to be deemed okay, no one shouted. It was until the recent incidences of kidnapping and the security angle that they now use the information that have been collated over the period to seek to pinpoint the phone that’s in use that the kidnappers were using for criminal activities and what was registered on the data base,” he said.

    He expressed shock over the number of SIM data that was said to be invalid by the regulator. “I am shocked why the regulatory body can now make that statement; in fact, they said they didn’t say 95million and people deduced from the figures given but the NCC and if they are 50 per cent wrong, how did they know that it is not valid? What are they using to say it is not valid? Then they said they are scrubbing. I have never heard this term in telecoms and I am getting concerned when we are talking about data base management. Data management is not telecoms, it is IT and that is why I am really concerned about our level of telecoms knowledge in the industry; we cannot belittle the work of experts  in ATCON. The exercise was done because we, ATCON, presented SIM card registration to NCC because other countries were doing it because of identity fraud, and people impersonating others.

    “The administration wants to use it to address Boko Haram and insecurity, but I have just told you if I have multiple subscriptions, what about the other ways of enforcing the security issue by knowing where (the criminal is) which technology exists. So, I am a bit concerned that we are now basing that insecurity on a data base that wasn’t built for security. It was not built for security. It was NIMC that was built for security and why are we not using that as a reference point which one agency has access to?

    “So, our answer is that the NCC has to corroborate its findings with NIMC to get veracity and only focus on those areas that have anomalies and not subject consumers to re-registering again because there was no uniform process right from the beginning and as I know today, there isn’t any formal process.”

  • ATCON faults CBN over $8.1b refund order to MTN

    The Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has faulted  the order to refund $8.1billion handed to MTN Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying the apex bank has no power to do so.

    Its President, Oulsola Teniola, in an email report, said the cash in question belongs to MTN in the first place, wondering what the CBN wants to achieve by its order.

    The CBN has accused MTN of untidy business transactions involving alleged repatriation of $8.1billion which it ordered the carrier to refund, while the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation has also issued demand notice of $2billion unpaid taxes over a 10-year period to the telco.

    Four local lenders alleged to have facilitated the repatriation were also sanctioned by the apex bank but MTN has strongly denied both allegations, adding that it had the clearance of the apex bank and a clean bill of record with the tax authorities.

    Teniola said the industry does not understand what the CBN intends to achieve by the directive to an operator on which it has no regulatory oversight.

    He said: “It is very important to note that the figure referred to has almost been fully paid by MTN and that the $8.1billion doesn’t belong to CBN but belongs to MTN. So, on this basis, it is hard to understand  what CBN seeks (to achieve) by its demands on MTN that it doesn’t have regulatory oversight over.”

    On how the logjam could be resolved, he said dialogue and transparency would do the magic.

    “Clarity, transparency and continued dialogue among  CBN, the banks and MTN to amicably resolve this matter in the interest of the wider stakeholder community, especially, potential investors closely watching developments on this issue.

    “At the moment, processing of CCIs (Certificate of Capital Importation) is shrouded in confusion in what should be a relatively straight forward process in between the banks and CBN their regulator.

    According to him, there is no likelihood that MTN refund such huge cash because of its timing.

    He said: “A refund is very unlikely. The size of the demand and timing is unreasonable and not in the interest of the country. After all, the Naira equivalent will have to be returned to MTN Nigeria. It is then an interesting situation that this seeks to redress events that occurred when CBN had full oversight and approved the transactions. How do they intend to do that?”

    According to Teniola, the matter should be between the banks and the apex bank and not necessarily the banks’ customers (MTN).

    “This I believe is a matter that should be in between the banks and CBN and not the client of the banks. NCC may decide to intervene if events unfold that threaten the survival of MTN and the telecom industry that they regulate. For now, it is too early to see which way this will take,” he said, adding, however, that he is not in an official capacity or position to quantify or qualify the impact of the development to corporate brand of the telco.

    “I fully believe MTN will continue to engage with the relevant authorities to resolve this latest setback,” Teniola said.

    CBN, had in a letter to MTN, said its investigation revealed that the shareholders of the telco invested $402,590,261.03 in the company from 2001 to 2006, which was carried out through the inflow of foreign currency cash transfers and equipment importation, as evidenced by the CCIs issued by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), Citi Bank (CB) and Diamond Bank (DB);  and the CCIs issued at the time of the investment by the above banks to MTN for $402,590,261.03 showed that $59,436,923.44 was invested as shareholders’ loan and $343,153,339.56 as equity.

    “However, a review of your organisation’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2007 revealed that $399,594,146.00 was recorded/invested as shareholders’ loan and $2,996,117 as equity investment, in accordance with the shareholder’s agreement but contrary to the CCIs issued by the banks

  • Honour for Glo at ATCON book presentation

    Telecoms giant, Globacom, yesterday received recognition from industry players in acknowledgement of its  innovations that  have contributed to the growth and development of the sector.

    Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) celebrated the company and other key agents of the  revolution that altered the face of the industry in 15 years.

    Billionaire, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. and the telco, Globacom were recognised for their commitment and rare dedication to the growth of the industry into a world-class business concern which also generates employment for millions of Africans in Nigeria and other parts of the continent where it operates.

     

    Former Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, chaired the occasion of the public presentation of the publication at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, while the Minister of Communications Technology, Adebayo Shittu, was a Special Guest of Honour.

    The book reminisced on the fact that Globacom crashed the cost of GSM SIM and tariff from N20,000 and N50 per minute respectively to as low as N200 and 5 kobo per second.

    Globacom also got credit for introducing per second billing at inception. “That feat, consequently, made it much easier for Nigerians to get value for money by paying only for the exact time spent on calls… thus helping to aggressively boost telephone penetration in the country”, the book recalled.

    The book mentioned other early revolutionary products pioneered by Globacom in Nigeria which included Blackberry, vehicle tracking, mobile internet, mobile banking, multimedia messaging service (MMS), in-flight roaming services, voice SMS, Magic Plus and Text2email, among others. The publication also documented Globacom as the first and the only operator so far with a wholly-owned submarine cable, Glo-1, linking Europe and America to West Africa to ensure the availability of bandwidth to enterprise customers in West Africa.

    “Globacom was the first to launch 4G-LTE network in 33 cities in Nigeria in 2016. Recently, the company scored another first by introducing the novel concept of creating a dedicated path in its 4G LTE network for enterprise customers,” the book added.

    In its bid to boost access to bandwidth in areas outside Lagos, especially the oil platforms and under-served communities in the southern parts of Nigeria, the telecommunications service provider   recently flagged off the laying of Glo 2, the first submarine cable in Nigeria to terminate outside Lagos.

  • Telecoms industry pays N450b taxes annually – ATCON

    The telecom industry annually contributes N450 billion in form of taxes to Nigeria’s economy, President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Olusola Teniola, has said.

    Teniola said in Lagos on Friday that the industry had been paying the sum to the three tiers of government in the last five years.

    He said certain taxes including corporation and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) were statutory, adding that multiple taxes and some other levies made up the sum.

    “These levies represent N200 billion out of the N450 billion we pay annually.

    “This extra N200 billion we are paying can be used to effectively roll out our networks and improve quality of services,’’ he stated.

    NAN

     

  • ATCON rejects CBN’s 0.005% cyber security levy

    • Group advises subscribers to brace for tariff increase

    The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has rejected the move of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to start the implementation of a certain section of the Cybercrime Act 2015. The section provides for the collection of ‘0.005’ levy on all electronic transactions into a National Cyber Security Fund account with the CBN.

    Its National President, Mr. Olusola Teniola, warned yesterday in Lagos that the collection of the levy would inevitably lead to a sharp increase in ‘charges paid by customers’ for telecoms services.  He said tariff on voice calls and data cost would certainly go up because the impact of the levy would be passed on to the end user of telecoms services.

    The businesses which are to be affected by the levy include telcos, Internet Service Providers (ISPs); banks and other financial institutions; insurance companies and Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    Teniola said the CBN has written to the group to brace for the collection of 0.005 per cent levy. He lamented that the industry was already heavily burdened by 39 different taxes, charges and levies imposed on it by the three tiers of government and their ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

    He warned that private sector efforts to speed up broadband penetration in the country would affected as investors would choose not to invest in the sector, adding that the $70billion foreign direct investment (FDI) that has come to the industry came from investors and not from government.

    He said the association has a mandate to protect the investment in the telecom industry from undue pressure from the government in the form of yet additional burden on our members that are already overtaxed by all tiers of governments.

    He said: “The Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015, Section 44 that the CBN seeks to implement, states in Section 44 an establishment of a National Cyber Security Fund.

    “In Section 44.2 (a) a Levy of 0.005 of all electronic transactions by the businesses specified in the second schedule to this Act. Where in the Schedule five categories including GSM service providers and all telecommunication companies and Internet Service Providers are to apply this charge.”

     

    “ATCON believes any premeditated actions that are capable of killing the telecoms industry must be eschewed by all tiers of governments in Nigeria as the perceived benefits of imposing this levy on aforementioned businesses have the direct capability to erase if not destroy the achievements that have been made since the telecoms sector was liberated.

    “We therefore advise government review this directive as it would affect some macro-economic elements such as loss of employment and we as Industry will have to increase prices to cover the collection, processing and pass on these costs to the 150million subscribers,” ATCON said.

    Inconsistent and defective policy formulation

    He said the group is of the opinion that formulation and implementation of policies are not properly coordinated in the sense that while some government agencies are working towards migrating all government services online, some others are working towards discouraging people from making use of electronic channels via this obnoxious levy.

    “It should be stated for the purpose of records that government should not think that the elasticity of demand for the use of electronic channels is inelastic as this move can stop people from transacting their businesses via available electronic channels,” Teniola warned.

  • ATCON: failure to migrate to IPv6 threatens ICT development

    The Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has warned that the failure of networks to migrate to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is threatening the development of the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

    Wikipedia defines IPv6 as the most recent version of Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the internet.

    Its President, Olusola Teniola, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the international capacity building and engagement workshop on IPv6 hosted by the group in Lagos at the weekend, lamented that the migration of telcos to the new platform was overdue.

    He said: “The need to migrate to IPv6 is long overdue and ATCON is not particularly happy that majority of our networks in Nigeria are not IPv6 compatible, and this poses a threat to Nigerian ICT development.

    “The Nigerian ICT sector can no longer afford to take the back seat in the global ICT development; to leapfrog the adoption of IPv6, ATCON has taken a further step to involve the two key major stakeholders – the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and we are happy that these two important government establishment have bought into the future we are trying to create around the Nigerian ICT space.

    “ATCON National Executive Council intends to enlarge the scope of this workshop to Nigerian IPv6 Conference by next year’s edition. The direct implication of this proposed move by ATCON is to widen the market and accelerate the adoption and implementation of IPv6 for the good of the industry.

    “The dividend pervasive broadband may be farfetched if as an industry or a country we are not working towards broadband meeting with technology. As we all know that when Internet of Things (IoTs) take its place in our country an individual may need more than 10 IP addresses to enjoy the benefits that comes with IoTs.”

    According to Teniola, the other reasons ATCON has invested and is still investing heavily in the adoption of IPv6 are to increase the productivity and contribution level of the network engineers in the implementation and deployment of IPv6 for ICT/telecoms development; the need to enhance the performance of network engineers on network management with the ultimate goal of ensuring sustainable growth of the telecom industry; and  to provide network engineers with the required knowledge to compete favourably with their counterparts in the global market.

    “Provision of quality training for those engineers that manage our networks which would help in tackling the problem of quality of service in the telecommunication industry; provide impetus for Nigerian Network operators to migrate fromIPv4 to IPv6 with its attendant advantages are other reasons for ATCON’s investment in IPv6,” he added.

    He urged all ATCON members to migrate to IPv6 so that their training could be put to use in their various organisations.

  • ATCON canvasses incentives to attract FDI

    Telecoms firms have advised the Federal Government to roll out a list of new incentives to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the industry. This is to complement its diversification programme from oil into other sectors such as information communications technology (ICT).

    The operators, acting under the aegis of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) said instead of imposing additional tax on the industry as the nine per cent Communication Service Tax (CST) bill by Senator Ali Ndume is seeking to do, the government should be thinking of streamlining the multiple taxes being collected from the industry.

    Its President, Olusola Teniola, who spoke with ICT editors in Lagos at the weekend, said: “Government should come up with incentives like tax holiday, tax rebate and other motivations that would drive foreign investment into the country and create a broadband environment as data is gaining more popularity than voice service.

    “It is necessary at this stage that the Local Content Law (of the oil and gas industry) be adapted to the ICT industry through the Office of Nigerian Content Development in ICT (ONC).This will help reduce capital flight.”

    He lamented that lack of access to foreign exchange (forex) is one of the challenges demotivating operators and urged government to do something about it without further delay.

    He expressed the readiness of the association to work closely with the authority towards resolving and arriving at  appropriate solutions to current economic problems,  adding that the association was committed to defending and sustaining the investment of its members.

    Teniola had paid a courtesy visit to the Senate leadership and suggested a reduction of the proposed CST from nine to 0.2 per cent.

    “The truth is that there is severe over-taxation in our industry. It explains the slow penetration of services into areas yet to be covered by our services across the country. Contrary to popular belief, telecommunication operators and service providers are barely sustaining their existence in these hard times.

    “There are reasons to suggest that the desire to widen the tax net is laudable and that as things stand, telecommunication is about one of the few areas where the net-capture may be widened,” the ATCON chief stated.

    Teniola warned that an attempt to introduce additional tax to sector will do more harm than good to the economy.

    “Now that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has exhausted all the tools in its arsenal to remedy the economic problems facing the nation, it is high time we talked less and acted more as we may be heading towards depression if we don’t act fast.

    “At a time like this when the government is looking at diversifying the economy through ICT, it is imperative that the sector is projected positively by making it attractive to both operators and consumers,” he said.

  • ATCON to NCC: Nigeria is haven for counterfeit phones

    Nigeria has become a dumping ground for counterfeit phones from across the world, the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) at the weekend, told the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    Its President, Olushola Teniola who spoke during a special reception organised by the group for the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, NCC, Prof Umar Dambatta, lamented that the rather uncontrolled influx of fake/counterfeited mobile phones into the country has added to the pains subscribers go through with end user poor quality of service (QoS).

    He lamented that unregistered/unapproved mobile phone brands currently have over 150 models circulating in the country.

    The NCC limits itself to type-approving mobile phones, while the role of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) remains unclear on the issue. The two agencies are quick to blame the menace on the number on people who import mobile phones in negligible quantities in their briefcases each time they are coming into the country.

    He said: “ATCON is interested in the continuous development of the telecoms sector but there are some issues that have constituted a threat to investment, friendly and enabling environment for our members and if these threats are not put under control, our industry might suffer decrease in investment. These monsters are dumping of counterfeit phones; implementation of National Broadband Plan; approval of draft National ICT Policy; foreign exchange squeeze viz-a-viz network roll-out; proposed nine per cent Communication Service Tax bill; and local content within ICT sector.”

    Teniola advised the NCC to step up actions to protect subscribers, protect indigenous original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and guarantee a high level of QoS.

    He said: “Government should put anti-counterfeiting measures such as the facilitation of integrated web portal-based international Mobile Equipment Identity (IME) and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) collection to stem the menace of sub-standard or unrecognised mobile phones circulating in Nigeria with the obvious consequences of poor QoS, loss of revenue to the government, loss of business by OEMs and loss of jobs as well in Nigeria mobile market. For instance we have more than 20 mobile phone brands that do not have NCC type approval certificate to operate in Nigeria. In addition, we have our 10 per cent of fake mobile phones products of some of the popular mobile phone brands in Nigeria.

    “ATCON is aware that your appointment is based on your pedigree as a thorough bred professional with sterling leadership quality, we are confident that you are equal to the task ahead. Therefore, we would like the EVC to tell us what the Commission is doing to either ameliorate or eliminate all these anti-development agents in our sector.”

    Responding, the NCC chief said the issue of QoS remained a major concern to the Commission. Dambatta said worried by the barrage of complaints that daily inundated the Commission, one of the first things he did on assumption of duty a year ago was to inaugurate a committee on QoS. He said the committee has been working round the clock, adding that the Commission has also acquired the requisite tools to monitor QoS remotely from the Commission’s office.

    He lamented that while the technical side of the challenge could be addressed through the issuance of direction, the non-technical aspects such as delayed issuance of right of way (RoW), epileptic power supply, vandalism, unprovoked shutting down of base transmission stations (BTS) and others remain intractable.

     

  • Strive to become Alibaba, ATCON urges Aniwura

    The  President, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) Olushola Teniola, has urged the management of Aniwura.com, an e-commerce platform to strive to become another major information communications technology (ICT) giant such as Alibaba.

    Speaking during the pre-launch of the platform in Lagos yesterday, the ATCON chief commended the management of the firm for their ingenuity.

    He said: “We need to start exporting our products; I challenge talented people directly and indirectly in Nigeria to make use of their talent. I am happy that this what Aniwura is doing. So I really want to encourage Aniwura.com to become the next Alibaba of Africa.”

    Chief Executive Officer, Aniwura.com, Iwayemi Ogomudia described the online and offline e-commerce platform as the first multi-dimensional marketplace and global marketing platform in Africa which will transform both local and global businesses.

    Ogomudia said the passion for the development of e-commerce in the country birthed her dream for the platform which will provide seamless online transactions for users.

    She said: “Africa’s commercial supply chain network has always been under accessed, especially in an age with limitless possibilities where one can have access to everything at any time. The existing e-commerce platform in our part of the world have done so much, giving limitless consumer access to only store owners, the single stakeholders in Africa’s  commercial supply network, a chain with multi-media and highly diversified stakeholders. But the question now is: what happens to the other stakeholders in this network?”

    She said Aniwura has come to make provisions for stakeholders with services such as business-to-business (B2B), offline-to-online (O2O) and the ground breaking business-to-government (B2G).

    Its Head of Operations, Obafemi Osinaike said the platform has been patterned to provide unique interface for vendors and their customers across the world. “We are fully aware of major challenges enterprises face in a difficult economic environment like ours, we have therefore initiated plans captured in our mission statements to facilitate sales and marketing, procurement and finances for business through innovative and collaborative efforts. Aniwura.com is equipped with cutting-edge facilities with capacity to build IT support for government and business interactions, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in line with our focus on business sustainability,” Osinaike said.