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Tag: NCC

  • NCC Tennis League: Odizor, Okocha, Oliseh are special guests of honour

    NCC Tennis League: Odizor, Okocha, Oliseh are special guests of honour

    Nigeria’s foremost tennis icon, Nduka Odizor, is one of the three national sports icons listed as special guests of honour at the final Blue Group round robin match between Team Civil Defence and Team Tombim taking place at the Package B tennis courts of the Abuja National Stadium from 10 am today.

    The others are world renowned soccer maesto, Jay Jay Okocha and national team coach Sunday Oliseh, both of whom are very decent tennis players.

    Odizor played in all the Grand Slams and attained a career highest ranking of 52. The high point of his career was when he reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon after beating Guillermo Vilas of Argentina.

    He was thereafter named the “duke of Wimbledon” by the British press. Odizor is currently in Nigeria on a private business visit and has described the NCC Tennis League as “a huge opportunity and platform for Nigerian tennis players to make their breakthrough.”

    Okocha and Oliseh, besides playing professional soccer at the highest level were captains of the Super Eagles at some point in their national careers and have taken to tennis as a recreational past time. Team Tombim, which is hosting, is featuring some of the best emerging younger generation of tennis players with recent international exposure.

    Moses Michael, their lead player, is the highest ranked Nigerian on the ATP Tour and won the Lagos Governors Cup last year.

    He also played in eight weeks of the Egyptian satellite early this year along with team mate Christian Paul. Former national champion, Henry Atseye and Onyeka Mbanu, a CBN Senior Championship semifinalist are also in the team.

    For the women’s singles and mixed doubles, Team Tombim has Sarah Adegoke, the national No.2 seed.

    Team Civil Defence, on the other hand, parades a collection of past and current national champions. Clifford Enosoregbe and Christie Agugbom, current men’s and women’s national champions respectively, lead the team.

    They will be supported by former national champions, Shehu Lawal and Babalola Abdulmumuni as well as in-form Nonso Madueke and team captain Jonah Samuel. The match has been described as the cream of the round robin stage and is expected to attract a huge crowd.

    “This is like having five national singles championship finals – four men’s and one ladies’ – and a men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals over two days.I do not think I want to miss that ,” said Ubale Mohammed, the national junior tennis coach who is coming in from Kaduna to watch the tie. ITF Certified white badge umpires, Aisha Hirse and Duke Onojeide are the officials designated for the tie which serves off at 10 am today.

  • SIM deactivation: NCC may sanction telcos for non-compliance

    SIM deactivation: NCC may sanction telcos for non-compliance

    The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has accused operators of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) of not complying with its directive to deactivate all unregistered subscriber identity modules (SIMs). Also to be deactivated are those that suffered one irregularity or the other in the course of SIM card registration.

    The NCC has threatened to  sanction the telcos.

    According to the NCC, from about 38.78 million SIM cards found to be defective in terms of improper registration details, including poor finger prints, no facial information and other biometric challenges, only about 10.7 million have been deactivated.

    Its Head, Compliance and Monitoring Team, Efosa Efosa, who spoke with reporters in Lagos yesterday, said all the operators failed to comply with the directive on the deactivation of improperly registered SIM cards.

    He accused MTN, the dominant operator, of failing to comply with the directive, while Airtel, Globacom, and Etisalat partially complied, he said.

    The chief enforcer recalled that in September last year, NCC sent 38.78 million subscriber lines that had registration hiccups to the telcos and directed them to normalise the registration by re-registering the affected subscribers.

    In the figures, MTN had 18.6 million unregistered and improperly registered SIMs, Airtel had 7.49 million, Globacom-2.23 million, while Etisalat had 10.46 million, totaling 38. 78 million SIMs that had issues.

    Early this month, specifically on August 4, NCC gave telcos, a seven-day ultimatum to deactivate all unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards on their networks.

    The NCC monitoring team carried out unannounced monitoring on all the networks and discovered that there was partial compliance among the operators while MTN did not comply at all.

    Efosa lamented that instead of outright deactivation MTN only placed 1.6 million lines on ‘Receive Calls Only’.

    “With this, there was no compliance from MTN. During our visit to Airtel, the telco has fully barred 2.3 million from its network. These were SIM data found to be incomplete. At Globacom, 3.5 million lines have been barred.  Globacom gave assurance of 24 hours to deactivate other lines found to be defective. Etisalat barred 3.3 million lines and promised that within 24 hours, others will be deactivated totally from the networks.”

    Efosa  lamented that the defective lines had been sent to the telcos since September last year, adding that the lines must have now passed 38.78 million.

    He said the commission, after due consultation with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and other stakeholders in the industry agreed that pre-registered SIMs and others found to be defective be deactivated, adding that henceforth, operators will be required to send correct data for hamonisation to the Efosa, who ruled out sabotage on the part of the operators, informed that there will be sanctions as stipulated by SIM Card Registration Code, Section 19 to 21, where it was stated that per SIMs found defective on the network, erring operator will be made to pay N200, 000.

    “We are going to look at what the law says about none-compliance and impose the appropriate sanction on all the operators, according to the level of their offenses,” Idehen said.

     

  • Registered SIM cards will be restored, says NCC

    Registered SIM cards will be restored, says NCC

    Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) cards deactivated by operators would be restored, if the owners had them properly registered, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said.

    Many affected subscribers have inundated the regulator with questions, seeking clarification as to the status of their phone numbers. The NCC has however stressed that only those subscribers who register their SIM cards properly will have them reactivated.

    In a statement yesterday, NCC Director of Communication, Tony Ojobo, said the clarification became necessary following the deluge of enquiries at the Commission some of which alluded to the impression that their SIM cards have been withdrawn permanently. “This is not the situation,” Ojobo, said, adding that the deactivation exercise and decision was a result of a meeting with the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the Department of State Service (DSS), the NCC and operators “after which the operators were given one-week to deactivate those unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards.”

    He said the operators were “specifically told that those subscribers whose lines were not registered and have not made any effort to register them, should be communicated before deactivation, pointing out that the deactivation of these SIM cards was in line with that meeting. “Subscribers who fail to register properly will have their lines deactivated, but those who comply will have them reactivated,” Ojobo said.

    He explained that proper registration means “a subscriber’s facial pictures, properly captured, biometrics/finger prints, valid means of identification and address, among others,” adding that these are part of the security measures to check incessant cases of crimes with the use of mobile phones.

    “People hide under anonymity to commit crimes because their lines are not registered, but all that has to change as the network operators have been told what to do,” he said.

    As he put it, “the ultimatum to deactivate unregistered SIM card expired on Tuesday this week. But enquires as to the status of the SIM cards necessitated this statement,” adding that operators were told among others to ensure compliance of all registration with the Data Dictionary, Technical Specifications on Finger prints and facial images and the business rules agreed by all stakeholder.

  • Etisalat’s suit against MTN, NCC adjourned

    Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos will on September 25, this year hear a suit by Etisalat Nigeria Limited seeking a judicial review of a Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) policy, which allegedly encourages unhealthy competition.

    The judge struck out an application by MTN challenging the suit’s hearing during the court’s long vacation.

    MTN’s lawyer Olasupo Shasore (SAN) said there was nothing urgent about the case to warrant it being heard by the vacation judge, but Etisalat’s lawyer Kola Awodein (SAN) said he was ready to proceed, adding that he wasted no time in filing his reply to MTN’s processes.

    However, NCC’s lawyer Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN) said he had just been briefed so he needed time to study the casefile.

    Etisalat is seeking a review of the 30 per cent differential between MTN’s off-net and on-net retail mobile voice tariffs. It said through the differential, MTN has created a “calling club”, an example of which is its “Family and Friends” promo.

    Etisalat is contending that the promo, which offers a call rate of 11 kobo per second to eight MTN subscribers and two non-MTN subscribers, is a threat to the plaintiff’s business.

    It added that the promo aided MTN to “leverage on its size to restrict outgoing traffic to smaller operators by pricing on-net tariffs lower so as to make off-net calls unattractive.”

    According to Etisalat, the 30 per cent differential granted MTN by NCC was a breach of the commission’s Determination of Dominance in Selected Communications Markets in Nigeria (DDSCMN) regulation issued by NCC on April 25, 2013 following a study it conducted in 2012.

    It said when it realised that MTN had launched the promo, it wrote several letters to NCC, which allegedly failed to compel MTN to withdraw the ‘Family and Friends’ tariff option.

    Etisalat is contending that such leverage given by NCC to MTN would not allow for a healthy competition and must be judicially reviewed.

  • Scum, debris Danbatta must clean at NCC

    Scum, debris Danbatta must clean at NCC

    When he assumed duties at the headquarters of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) in Abuja last Friday as the new helmsman of the regulatory body, he left no one in doubt as to his mission.

    “I want to pledge that I will bring to bear my wealth of experience in tackling the issue of quality of service in order to meet the expectations of the public that we are servicing,” Prof Umaru Danbatta told workers of the Commission on his first day in office.

    Having been part of the NCC as vice president of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), the skilled manpower training arm of the Commission, Prof Danbatta is by no means a new comer to the telecoms sector.

    “Service providers no longer flash with codes but the conventional 11-digit GSM numbers. When you see the missed call, you are always tempted to return the call and when you do that, a strange voice will be advertising its services to you. It is very annoying and the new NCC Chief should do something about it”

    Quality of service palaver

     

    Over the years, subscribers’ figures have grown phenomenally while quality of service (QoS) has remained an almost intractable challenge. When Dr. Juwah took over from Ernest Ndukwe who spent 10 years, he came up with what he called his six-point agenda. These were: consolidating on the gains of his predecessor; taking drastic measures to improve QoS; enhance broadband penetration; improving competition; providing diversified choices for subscribers; and improving NCC’s presence in the international space.

    According to the NCC, the total number of mobile subscribers in the country has risen from 144 million in May to 146 million in June this year. In addition, Nigeria’s mobile operators added 2.1 million new subscribers in June with the subscriptions to fixed networks increasing from 181,625 in May to 182,643 within the same period. This is by every standard, a huge growth.

    During Juwah’s tenure, the mobile network operators (MNOs) were sanctioned a couple of times through the imposition of fines (which Juwah admitted the MNOs prefer to pay to complying with laid down guidelines).

    Sector analysts say Prof Danbatta must treat QoS issue using the carrot and stick approach. President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Bayo Banjo said all the fines that have been imposed on the service providers were not severe enough to serve as punishment and assure deterrence by others.

    Banjo argued that each time the NCC imposes fines on the service providers, all the operators do is to configure their ‘system’ such that when N10 is deducted from the account of all their customers, they effortlessly recoup the fines.

    According to him, the regulator should go a step further by not limiting itself to the imposition of fines but actually removing the chief executive officers (CEOs) of non-performing MNOs. He said by the time one CEO is fired the way the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fires the CEOs of non-performing banks, others will wake up.

    “The NCC should also compel the MNOs to improve on their response time to consumers’ complaints, especially when the customers have to call the call centre through the codes provided. The current practice whereby customers are kept endlessly waiting to be attended to is not the best. Many customers don’t even get attended to at the end of the day and the distance between the physical offices of these telcos to their customers is unacceptable,” a subscriber, Mrs. Florence Chikke said.

     

    Unsolicited SMS, calls, ‘flashing’

     

    Aside poor QoS, the average teleoms subscriber in Nigeria has to live daily with the pains of unsolicited short message service (SMS) and their attendant distractions; unsolicited calls in the name of telemarketing and ridiculously too, ‘flashing’ all in an effort to make the customer make calls.

    The NCC under Juwah said it had reached an understanding with the MNOs over these issues but the understanding has not translated to any relief for the subscribers.

    When The Nation took the issue up with the former EVC, he expressed shock, raising questions as to whether the MNOs actually do what they do selectively. “Service providers no longer flash with codes but the conventional 11-digit GSM numbers. When you see the missed call, you are always tempted to return the call and when you do that, a strange voice will be advertising its services to you. It is very annoying and the new NCC chief should do something about it,” a legal practitioner, Onyekachi Aguomuo said.

    Though the MNOs have blamed some of these on ‘rogues’ who take advantage of the unregulated internet to unleash ‘terror’ on the subscribers, sector analysts say the operators should be forced to invest more on firewalls to protect the network against undue attack.

     

    National Broadband Plan

     

    The NCC will have to show the way in realising the ambitious targets of the National Broadband Plan launched by the former administration. Already, the Commission said it is building optic fibre cables to provide in addition to what the MNOs have to give the necessary backhaul infrastructure support and complementing this with the open access model under which licences would be issued to infrastructure providers (Infracos) in the six geo-political zones of the country and one for Lagos. MainOne has been licensed under this scheme. According to Juwah, based on the business plans of the licencees, funds would be provided for roll-out of services.

    Banjo has criticised the idea of funding private firms with tax payers money, arguing that it will breed corruption as the people that will get the “billions will be friends of people in government while a negligible percentage of the licences will be genuine operators.

    “The idea of providing funding should be discouraged completely because it is not in line with the anti-corruption crusade of Mr. President,” an industry player said.

    Commenting on the implementation of the NBP, Airtel CEO, Segun Ogunsanya said achieving the NBP will require possibly up to 50 per cent more than the $3billion-$4billion Nigerian operators have been spending on capital expenditure (CAPEX) annually, an increment that would need to be justified by a material change in operating conditions that would improve investment confidence.

     

    Enthroning fair competition

     

    Over the years, concernd stakeholders have been complaining  about structural inbalances in the system largely because of the lack of  laws which ought to have protected the weak from the strong.

    The NCC carried out a study about two years ago that showed that there were dominant operators in the sector, especially in the voice segment. It directed the concerned operators to take steps to remedy the situatiion. It is not clear if one of the affected operators have complied with the directive of the regulator. This issue has however become a subject of litigation before a regular and competent court of law in the country.

    Prof Danbatta should take measures to protect the weak operators from the strong because that is the essence of fair and unbiased regulation. The week also have a right to exist afterall they also pay tax to the government and employ Nigerians in their companies too.

     

    Telephony penetration

     

    Though subscriber figures have been going up, there are so many rural communities across the country that are yet to enjoy the dividends of the telecoms revolution. The huge resources available at the disposal of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) should be judiciously applied to bridge the digital divide. Prof Danbatta should meet with stakeholders in the industry to map out strategies to ensure that in the 21st century, no community is cut off from civilisation.

    It is gladdening that the fund had carried out a survey which showed that over 250 communities spread across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are still disenfranchised.

     

    Review of NCA Act

     

    Another important issue the university don will have to push is to get the National Assembly repeal the National Communication Act 2003 to take care of emerging trends in the industry that were not envisaged when the law was enacted. One of them for instance is the power to remove the CEOs of telcos that fail to keep to the key performance indicators (KPIs) signed with the regulator and MNOs.

    Both Juwah and Ndukwe agree on the need to review the Act as they argue that the law has become outdated in view of emerging trends in the telecoms industry.

  • NCC gives seven days ultimatum to telecom operators

    NCC gives seven days ultimatum to telecom operators

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Wednesday handed down a seven-day ultimatum to Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and other network providers to deactivate all pre-registered Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards or face sanctions.

    The Nation gathered that the deadline was informed by the need to step up efforts towards improving on the security situations in the country.

    According to a press statement issued by the Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo, the ultimatum was the fallout of a meeting between Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Department of State Service (DSS), the network operators and the NCC.

    Ojobo said the meeting took into cognizance crimes committed against members of the public either by kidnappers, terrorists, robbers and threats to lives, through the use of such unregistered SIM cards across all the networks.

    The statement noted that operators were however told to notify such subscribers before deactivation of their SIM cards.

    At the meeting were the representatives of the NSA, Group Captain, Ibikunle Daramola, DSS, Mr. Godwin Ometu, the immediate past NCC Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Dr Eugene Juwah Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska and representatives of MTN, Globacom, Etisalat, Visafone , Airtel and others.

    The statement reads; ” Seven days’ notice is hereby given for deactivation of all invalid/improperly registered SIM cards; these include all SIM cards without or improperly captured facial pictures and or finger – prints.

    “Henceforth, all registrations must conform to the Data Dictionary, Technical Specifications on finger prints and facial images and the business rule agreed by all stakeholders.

    “All registration records must be validated before sending to the Commission; thus eliminating all invalid records that does not conform new registrations and indicate same in the monthly reports sent to Commission.

    “It was also resolved that operators will be held liable for cases for cases of pre-registered SIMs.

    “Earlier grace of 21 days given by the Commission has lapsed.

    “Accordingly, the Commission has commenced monitoring as from Monday, August 3, 2015.

    “Sanctions for default will apply in accordance with the SIM registration regulations.”

  • Buhari picks Kachikwu as new NNPC chief

    Buhari picks Kachikwu as new NNPC chief

    … Appoints new Executive Vice Chairman for NCC

    President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    Dr. Kachikwu, who was the Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon-Mobil (Africa), will take over from Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha.

    Dr. Kachikwu, according to a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, hails from Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State.

    The statement reads: “He is a First Class Graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Nigerian Law School.

    “The new NNPC Chief Executive also has Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Law from the Harvard Law School.

    “He started his working career with the Nigerian/American Merchant Bank before moving on to Texaco Nigeria Limited from where he joined Exxon-Mobil.

    President Buhari has also approved the appointment of Prof. Umaru Garba Danbatta as the new Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    “Prof. Danbatta, who holds a Doctorate Degree in Electronic Engineering, takes over from Dr. Eugene Juwah whose tenure expired on July 29.

    “The new NCC Chief Executive’s other academic qualifications include a Bachelors Degree in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications as well as a Masters Degree in the same field.

    “He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and has had a meritorious career in which he rose to become Professor of Electrical Engineering and Electronics at Bayero University, Kano, specializing in Telecommunications Engineering and Information and Communications Technology.

    “Before his new appointment, Prof. Danbatta held top management and leadership positions at different times including Head of Department, Dean Of Faculty, Director, Centre for Information Technology, Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (Kano Branch), Deputy Vice Chancellor and Acting Vice Chancellor,” the statement added.

     

  • NCC: Regulating in whose interest?

    What exactly is happening in the Nigerian telecoms industry? Whose interests are the operators serving? And more importantly, in whose interest is the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) regulating the industry? These questions have been nagging at one’s mind for a while. Things however came to a head when not long ago news filtered in that the NCC was attempting to stop an operator from offering lower tariff rates to its customers. Technical-sounding reasons were given for the ban, but it is clear that there is more than meets the eye.

    If you are a subscriber to any of the “Big Four” networks in Nigeria – and who isn’t? –Then you must have noticed how aggressively competitive the operators are. The industry is acclaimed to be one of the most competitive in the world, for good reason.As we all know, the good thing about competition is that consumers are ultimately the highest beneficiaries. Who can so soon forget that per-second billing was introduced into the Nigerian market as a result of competition, not regulation? Or that of all the goods and services produced in Nigeria, only telecoms services have recorded significant price drops– from about fifty naira per minute in 2002 to less than seven naira per minute currently. Also, it was competition, not regulation, that drove the price of SIM cards from about N20,000  (yes)  in circa 2002 to less than N100 in 2015. If telecoms networks have grown to provide coverage all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and literally democratized “talking”, it is because of competition, not regulation.The value added services, the houses, cars, millions of naira and other gifts showered on consumers to keep us talking on their networks has been the results of competition, not regulation. Indeed, if the industry is today one of the brightest spots in Nigeria’s corporate future, it is because of competition, more than anything else.

    It is for this reason that we as consumers must be apprehensive when we notice that competition in the telecoms industry is being jeopardized. We should be even more concerned because there are indications that the industry regulator may have been captured by interests other than that of the consumer, and that it is protecting these interests above that of consumers in very blatant ways.

    Flashback to 2013 when  the NCC declared two of the operators as dominant operators and ordered them to make certain changes in order to prevent them from abusing their so-called dominant status. As a result of that declaration, the biggest operator (MTN) which then had  about 50 million customers on its network was asked to charge the same tariff rate for its on-net and off-net calls. Now, the reason given by NCC was that they needed to make the market more competitive. But the impact of that decision was that MTN was forced to charge its customers higher tariff rates than what was charged by its competitors. So whose interest did NCC protect by that decision? Was it the interest of the over 50 million Nigerians on MTN who had to either pay more to MTN (as if MTN wasn’t making enough from them already!) or were forced to buy SIMS on other networks – and new handsets to go with it, just to enjoy the lower tariff rates that the other networks were charging. For some reason, neither MTN nor consumer protection advocates did anything about the folly in this decision.

    Recently, we again heard that NCC had directed MTN to withdraw a tariff rate plan that it allegedly launched without NCC approval. We will not hold brief for MTN here – their publicists are paid well enough to do that! Apparently, NCC’s letter was leaked to the press and it went viral. This is a shame in itself. Why any self-respecting regulator would leak official communication in the media is beyond us, but again, the NCC as one of Nigeria’s most well-heeled regulators can speak for itself. What concerns us is that the tariff rate that NCC asked MTN to withdraw is probably the lowest tariff rate MTN has ever charged its customers. This is in the interest of consumers. We all know how stingy the folks at MTN are, so why should the NCC ask MTN to withdraw this rare gift to its consumers, when NCC should be the one asking operators to charge less!? What is even more troubling is the fact that the tariff rate of N6.60 which NCC is trying to deny MTN’s over 60 million consumers is freely available to subscribers on other networks!

    So we ask, whose interest is NCC protecting, and on whose behalf is it regulating? Given the curious speed by which the news back then hit the airwaves (it was reliably gathered that it even trended on twitter – pushed by professional publicists and “twitter marketers”) it is almost certain that it was one of MTN’s competitors that tried to force a reversal of this low tariff rate. There are still indications that the competitor is still up in arms using proxy, but it would be a sad day indeed if a government institution funded by tax payers is now turned into a willing tool to force anti-competitive actions against the interests of the largest block of consumers in the market.

    No doubt, the Nigerian telecommunications industry has witnessed remarkable growth over the years. Understandably, pundits are quick to credit the NCC for this success. However, the NCC’s recent actions are beginning to call into serious question its capability to protect the interests of consumers. Regardless of whatever technical issues there may be between MTN and the NCC, it is unfair to deprive its over 60 million consumers of the benefits of lower tariff rates. Competition is at play here, and we must all insist that the NCC should stand firmly behind consumers, regardless of whose ox is gored. NCC should protect consumers, not MTN’s competitors.

    • Ezedi, a telecoms analyst wrote in from Lagos.
  • ‘Buhari will determine NCC chief’s fate’

    ‘Buhari will determine NCC chief’s fate’

    Stakeholders in the telecommunication industry will have to hold their breath regarding the tenure of the Executive Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, until President Muhammadu Buhari takes a decision on the matter.

    NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said on Thursday that Juwah’s fate will be determined by the government.

    Juwah’s first tenure as the NCC boss ended on July 28.

    Ojobo, who declined to confirm whether the NCC boss has resumed work following the expiration of his first tenure, told The Nation that he has no information on the matter for now.

    “I will get back to you once I get any information on the matter,” he said.

     

  • Nigeria’s phone lines hit 146m, says NCC

    Nigeria’s phone lines hit 146m, says NCC

    The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said the active lines in the nation’s telecommunications industry stood at 146,561,744 in May.

    The commission spoke in its Monthly Subscriber Data.

    Active lines in Nigeria were 145,476,326 for  April and increased by 1,085,418 in May, the NCC said.

    According to the data, 144,386,841 of the 146,561,744 active numbers subscribe to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network services.

    The GSM operators increased their active customers by 1,329,607 as against the 143,057,234 subscribers in April.

    The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators had 1,993,278 active users in May, showing a decline of 241,024 from the 2,234,302 customers in April.

    Also, the monthly subscriber data showed that the Fixed Wired/Wireless networks’ consumers reduced to 181,625 in May, after losing the 3,165 customers recorded from the 184,790 data for April.

    The chart showed that the tele-density of the country’s telecommunications industry increased to 104.69 per cent in May, from 103.91 per cent in April.

    NAN reports that the tele-density statistics measure the percentage of a country’s population with access to telecommunications services, as determined from the subscriber base.

    Nigeria’s tele-density is calculated by the NCC on a population of 140 million.

    NAN also reports that there was an increase of 0.78 per cent in the tele-density in May.