The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NCC

  • NCC: technology’ll burst call masking

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday pledged to deploy the requisite technology that will enable the tracking of subscriber identity module (SIM) boxes used to perpetuate the fraud of call masking and refilling.

    This is just as the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes expressed  satisfaction with the measures so far taken by the regulator to tackle the menace in the country.

    Speaking while leading other members of the committee to a high-level meeting at the Headquarters of the Commission yesterday in Abuja, the Chairman, Hon Kayode Oladele, expressed concerns on the dangers call masking portends in the country.

    “Within a very short time, we are  impressed by the responses and I wish Nigerians could be told about what we have done here today. Many people feel that nothing has been done whereas so much has been done, except that if you ask me what we have achieved today, I will say that I am leaving here more confused because the problem is bigger than what we thought,” Oladele said.

  • Ovia urges NAICOM, NCC, CBN on financial inclusion

    To  acheive Financial Inclusion, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and the  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must approve the use of mobile phones to sell micro insurance to the poor and excluded adults in the country, Founder and Chairman, Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia  said yesterday.

    He spoke at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja,  during the 2018 Insurance Industry National Conference, entitled: “Insurance Industry and Financial Inclusion.”

    He said while NAICOM has released a new micro insurance guideline in this respect, this will not change if operators would still need to sell the product in the old traditional way.

    He said: “NAICOM has a new guideline on micro insurance but it is not being deployed through mobile telephony. The Commission can’t deploy micro insurance through the traditional old ways. It should be done through new means which is technology. The Commission, NCC and CBN need to approve mobile telephony for the distribution of micro insurance urgently,” he said.

    Meanwhile, NAICOM yesterday said it has concluded plans to launch the Nigerian Insurance Industry Development Plan (NIIDP) in order to boost financial inclusion.

    The commission said it had already concluded work on the NIIDP, with KPMG, a consulting firm monitoring its implementation to ensure each segment of the market kept to date with their assigned responsibilities.

  • Minister, NCC to youth: help grow economy with ICT

    COMMUNICATION Minister Adebayo Shittu has urged youths and rural dwellers to key into the opportunities in Information Communication Technology (ICT) to create jobs and increase their low income level to high income ends.

    Shittu advised the youth to embrace ICT, train and keep retraining, saying it would significantly increase their access to education, global information pool, productivity, business opportunities and knowledge that are goldmine of money.

    The minister gave the advice in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, during the Southwest zone stakeholders’ engagement workshop on ICT utilisation and sustainability.

    The programme was facilitated by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), an agency of the Federal Government and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    About 150 beneficiaries at the workshop were students and artisans.

    Speaking at the workshop, themed: “ICT for community engagement through knowledge based development”, Shittu said the nation’s experience with oil wealth in the last 60 years and how it had not genuinely developed the country and the citizens was a sufficient reason why there should be a paradigm shift to ICT.

    He noted that there were other countries of the world, which were ahead of Nigeria in all indices of growth and development because they depended on the strength of ICT.

    “ICT is helpful in creating jobs, developing Nigeria and it will lead to eventual transformation of the country. This is why NCC is targeting 150 youths in the locality for training,” Shittu said.

    Chairman of NCC Senator Biyi Durojaiye said the essence of the workshop was to create avenue to identify, train and equip hidden talents among the nation’s youth that would blossom to help grow the economy, create jobs and enhance national competitiveness.

  • NCC withdraws 36 million redundant lines

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday that about 36 million redundant lines of subscribers have been withdrawn in the past few months so as to give room for effective management of telecom facilities.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta said the lines had to be withdrawn because “we do not have time to allow resources to waste. The intention is to ensure that all resources at our disposal, number resources, spectrum resources are put into good use and benefit of this country”.

    Danbatta who spoke with reporters shortly after declaring open the 84th Edition of Telecom Consumer Parliament at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Conference Centre, Abuja, said the NCC would continue to play its regulatory roles for the growth and development of the industry.

    He said: “Those are lines that are redundant. We always give statistics about active lines. We have noticed that the teledensity is growing, steadily growing for six –seven months and has exceeded 150 million mark now.

    “It is expected of NCC that resources that are not being put into use are withdrawn so that this can in turn be a sign to all operators so that they can put them in good use and activate them.”

    Danbatta also said the NCC was doing everything possible to bridge the 198 telecom access gap which translates to about 40 million people especially those in rural areas not having access to mobile phone usage.

    According to him, the regulator, in conjunction with industry players, is deploying modern technology solution in three locations to tackle the problem headlong instead of following the present mechanism which would take over 20 years to achieve.

    He said NCC besides approving a wide range of palliatives to improve availability, accessibility, and affordability of telecom services to consumers, has gone some step further to partner with some stakeholders on the deployment infrastructures for the good of the industry.

    Danbatta said: “The NCC in partnership with stakeholders deployed base transceivers to stations in those areas that do not have access in order to bridge access gaps.”

    We are doing this at the rate of about 10 per annum, and going by the number of access gaps, it is going to take the NCC close to 20 years to close all access gaps.

    “The rural population does not have the time to wait; they are not going to be patient for 20 years without access to telecoms services. Therefore, there is need to find ingenious ways to close these gaps within shortest period of time.  And fortunately, technology presents itself with various options in solving this problem in shorter time.

    “There is a Rural Technology Solution which we have deployed through a pilot scheme in about three locations in the country and we are very happy about the outcome of this pilot deployment.

    “In partnership with those in possession of these technology here in Nigeria, to reciprocate the deployment beyond the pilot, so that we can close those access gaps and then see what happens.  But by my estimation, we can through rural technology solution bridge the gaps in about three-four years.

    “When you want to bridge gaps, you have to have spectrum and of course the spectrum belong to operators, we are leveraging this important resource to facilitating partnership between the owners of the solution with the operators and NCC is right there ensuing that the partnership becomes operative.

    “I am happy to report that most of the operators are disposed to this as well as the owners of the technology solutions.”

    He said the Telecoms Consumer Parliament (TCP) is one of the robust platforms designed by the Commission to facilitate interaction on issues of common interest, and therefore urged industrial players as well as consumers to take advantage of it.

  • NCC stops MTN from acquiring Visafone

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday halted moves by South African mobile giant MTN to acquire the only surviving Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator, Visafone.

    It said the acquisition cannot be done without a public inquiry to enable stakeholders determine the future of Visafone in the overall interest of the industry.

    The regulator’s stance followed a heated debate on the matter by representatives of major telecoms firms in the country who made presentations during the stakeholders meeting at the NCC headquarters in Abuja.

    Present at the meeting were MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria Limited, Glo Mobile Nigeria, 9mobile Nigeria Limited and other operators.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Garba  Danbatta, said the NCC as a regulatory body for the industry considered it imperative to hold the public inquiry to give room for active participation and deliberations  that would facilitate informed decision on the issue.

    He drew the attention of stakeholders to the enabling law which empowers NCC to take decision on the transfer of licence and resources, including the 800MHz Spectrum from Visafone Communications Limited to MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.

    Prof. Danbatta said: “The Commission seeks your active participation in the deliberations that would lead to an informed decision consistent with our mandate to create an enabling environment for effective competition in the industry as well as to ensure the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country.

    “As you may all be aware, the demand for spectrum has increased due to the emergence of disruptive innovations such as mobile broadband, web applications, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IOT) and the proliferation of smart devices among others.

    “Consequently, in order to reap the benefits of effective utilisation of spectrum as well as improve operational efficiency and regulatory excellence, the Commission in accordance with its mandate as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act NCA 2003 embarked on re-planning of some of its Frequency bands

    “Specifically in 2013 the commission re-planned the use of 800Mhz band to accommodate technology development in the telecom industry and new Frequency Assignments were conveyed to the operators according to their frequency holdings in the 800MHz band.

    “Visafone is one of such incumbents on the spectrum that got 10MHz FDD Assignments. Subsequent to the re-planning of the band, Visafone wrote to the Commission requesting for transfer of its licence including the 800MHz spectrum to MTN.”

    However, during their presentations, the representatives of Airtel and 9mobile opposed the plan to transfer the licence of Visafone to MTN , insisting that MTN already had over 38 per cent of spectrum holding in the industry.

    They argued that should the NCC concede to the transfer, the development would not only create a monopoly for MTN, but make competition difficult among industrial players while a lot of telecommunications companies would be permanently disadvantaged.

  • NCC halts Visafone acquisition by MTN

    The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, on Monday waded into the acquisition of Visafone by South African mobile giant MTN, saying the acquisition cannot be done without a public inquiry to enable stakeholders determine the future of Visafone in the overall interest of the industry.

    The decision of the NCC to halt the acquisition followed a heated debate on the matter by representatives of major telecommunications companies in the country who made presentations during the stakeholders meeting at the NCC headquarters in Abuja.

    The major industrial players present at the meeting were MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria Limited, Glo Mobile Nigeria, 9Mobile Nigeria Limited and other telecommunication outfits.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, said the NCC as a regulatory body for the industry considered it imperative to hold the public inquiry to give room for active participation and deliberations that would facilitate informed decision on the issue.

    He drew the attention of stakeholders to the enabling law which empowers NCC to take decision on the transfer of license and resources, including the 800MHz Spectrum from Visafone Communications Limited to MTN Nigeria Communications Limited. Prof. Danbatta said : “ The Commission seeks your active participation in the deliberations that would lead to an informed decision consistent with our mandate to create an enabling environment for effective competition in the industry as well as to ensure the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country.

    “As you may all be aware, the demand for Spectrum has increased due to emergence of disruptive innovations such as Mobile Broadband, Web Applications, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things (IOT) and the proliferation of smart devices among others. “Consequently, in order to reap the benefits of effective utilization of Spectrum as well as improve operational efficiency and regulatory excellence, the commission in accordance with its mandate as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Acts NCA 2003 embarked on re-planning of some of its Frequency bands “Specifically in 2013 the commission re-planned the use of 800MTz band to accommodate technology development in the telecom industry and new Frequency Assignments were conveyed to the Operators according to their frequency holdings in the 800MHz band.

    “Visafone is one of such incumbents on the Spectrum that got 10MHz FDD Assignments. Subsequent to the re-planning of the band Visafone wrote to the Commission requesting for transfer of its license including the 800MHz Spectrum to MTN” However, during their presentations the representatives of Airtel and 9Mobile opposed the plan to transfer the License of Visafone to MTN , insisting that MTN already had over 38 percent of Spectrum holding in the industry.

    They argued that should the NCC concede to the transfer, the development would not only create a monopoly for MTN, but make competition difficult among industrial players while a lot of telecommunications companies would be permanently disadvantaged.

    But the representatives of MTN argued that the acquisition would promote more investment in the sector in line with government policy for the deployment of broadband infrastructures especially to the rural areas more so when the enabling laws were not contravened.

  • NCC okays N50m for R&D in varsities

    Telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said as a demonstration of its desire to encourage the development of innovation, it has given N50 million to members of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE) and various universities to promote Research and Development (R&D).

    Its Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who spoke in Lagos at the weekend on the sideline of a dinner organised by NAE, explained that the N50 million was in fulfilment of part of NCC’s Eight-point agenda he unveiled, one of which is to seek strategic collaboration and partnership.

    “Only recently, we gave out N50 million to members of the Academy and staff from various universities in Nigeria to facilitate the conduct of research that will translate into innovation and will ultimately address challenges in the industry,” Danbatta said.

    He said the NCC will always seek collaboration that will see to the disruption of innovation, which according to him, would bring about new ways of doing things, enhance efficiency and productivity. “NCC realises the importance of collaboration. That is why we put strategic collaboration and partnership in our Eight-point agenda,” Danbatta said.

    He said the collaboration between the academia and the industry has taken a firm root with a lot of work going on, assuring that very soon, NCC will announce the results of these collaborations with NAE.

  • NCC: SMEs, innovators, others are growth engines

    • Prepares for ITU Telecom World 2018

    Small, Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs), start-ups and innovators are engines of economic growth, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said at the weekend.

    Realising this, this year’s focus by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Telecom World according to NCC, would be on them. Aside SMEs, innovators and their innovations are also slated to have a good showing at the event, which will hold in Durban, South Africa, between September 10 and 13.

    Nigeria had a good outing in ITU Telecom World 2017, Busan, South Korea, where five of the country’s SMEs/Innovators made the final ITU Global listing for SMEs/Innovators awards. Three of them made the honours’ list.

    As part of the plan for this year’s ITU Telecom World, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) published notices in the media recently, inviting Information Communications Technology (ICT) practitioners and SMEs operating as e-Environment, Technology Hubs, Innovation Incubators, e-Education, e-Health, e-Commerce, e-Finance, Youth Empowerment and Employment to enlist for participation at ITU Telecom World 2018.

    ITU Telecom World 2018 theme is “Innovation for smarter digital development”. The LOC said for SMEs/Innovators to be selected, “their tech-enabled solution must be creative, innovative, and globally relevant. Such products/services must also provide demonstrable impact or radical improvement in service delivery or processes to specific areas such as agriculture, education, health, governance, security”. Innovations must be unique, scalable and patented with a model to showcase.

    ITU Telecom World 2018 is an election year and Nigeria is vying for two positions: ITU Administrative Council and Director, in charge of Bureau for Telecommunications Development (BDT), which Mr. Williams Ijeh is a candidate.

    In April this year, NCC Chief Regulator and Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta flagged off Nigeria’s campaign for the two positions when he hosted a dinner for high profile ITU personalities including Secretary-General, Mr. Houlin Zhao, officials of the global regulatory agencies, ministers, regulators and global dignitaries in Geneva, Switzerland.

     

     

  • NCC wades into N165b interconnectivity debt

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), yesterday said it has waded into the N165 billion interconnectivity debt dragging, so as to avert another major debt crisis in the industry.

    NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the action of the regulatory body became necessary given the concerns raised by stakeholders regarding the way and manner the debt was piling up and its negative impacts on the industry, as well as the lukewarm attitude of the debtors in paying their debts.

    He said NCC intervened by conveying a meeting of stakeholders as a pragmatic approach towards addressing the problem,  adding that a time frame had been given for “those owing to start paying and those being owed to start receiving what is due them.”

    The EVC spoke at the NCC Headquarters, Abuja, while granting audience to the newly elected Executive Members of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) led by its President,  Mr Olusola Teniola.

    Danbatta said: “It is N165 billion interconnectivity debt and yesterday because of the realisation of what this debt burden can do to the industry, we arranged an important meeting of all the telecoms company, where we mediated.

    “Mediation in terms of what the Act empowers the commission to do in times of crisis like this. There is a debt crisis in the industry, but it is being managed very well.

    “We all agree at yesterday’s sitting that pragmatic ways must be found to settle the debts. I think a deadline has been given, mid-July for payment plans and I think this is pragmatic in order to ensure that those that are owing start paying and those that are being owed start receiving what is due them.”

    Danbatta also said the present administration is leaving no stone unturned on the issue of right of way (RoW) and the deployment of broadband infrastructures across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, regretting that up till now, the charges being slammed on service providers in the states are not consistent with the Nigerian Economic Council (NEC) document.

    He urged the states to comply with the agreed N145 per metre length of fibre deployment in states as against the N8,000 and N9,000 being charged at the moment, saying should the state governors comply with the content of the document, it would also lead to transformation in all sectors of the states’ economy.

    Danbatta who said the country has achieved 22 per cent broadband penetration against the 30 per cent being targeted by the end of the year, noted that NEC, under the leadership Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is working towards additional 18 per cent broadband penetration as part of the administration’s industrial policy and competitiveness to transform the nation’s economy.

     

     

     

  • NCC seeks Academy’s partnership to tackle multiple taxation, others

    The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has sought the partnership of Nigeria Academy of Engineers to tackle the non-technical issues affecting quality of service (QoS) in the telecoms sector.

    He said the NCC would continue with the culture of support and cooperation with the Academy.

    He spoke when the Vice President of the Academy, Prof Fola Lasisi,  led other distinguished professors on a courtesy call on him to convey the readiness of the group to induct him as Fellow of the elite engineering body, at NCC Headquarters, Abuja.

    Dambatta urged the Academy to also lend its voice on the issues of Right of Way (RoW), multiple taxations, and multiple regulations to ensure that all the non-technical factors that affect the QoS are tackled.

    He said: “We will leverage the experience of the Fellows of the Academy and bring this to bear in improving QoS. QoS is normally measured, using four key performance indicators, and we believe that more additional indicators can be brought in to improve the QoS further,” he explained.

    Speaking earlier, Prof Lasis said the addition of the NCC chief to the body is a testimony to the quality of his leadership at the NCC.

    Danbatta will be inducted as a fellow of the Academy on June 21, 2018, just some 48 hours before he receives an honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Jos.

    Prof Lasis said: “We want to show that NCC has always had very brilliant people at the top. Engr. Ernest Ndukuwe was also one of us and became a fellow when he was here. Prof Danbatta continues in the same way, so we want to congratulate him and tell him that we appreciate his becoming a Fellow.”

    Danbatta  lauded what he described as the tradition of excellence in the NCC, adding that his induction as a fellow of the Academy will be a big honour to the regulatory agency.

    “We acknowledge this recognition as a great honour to the NCC. I, therefore, pledge to continue to impact in a way and manner that will lead to the transformation of the industry, its stability, resilience and general contribution to the economy,” he said.