The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NCC

  • NCC impounds pirated textbooks

    NCC impounds pirated textbooks

    Operatives of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) yesterday raided Zion Bookshop located at 124, Udo Umana Street, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and seized pirated copies of books worth N600, 000.

    Copyright Inspectors led by Charles Amudipe, the Uyo Liaison Officer of the commission, backed by armed policemen from Akwa Ibom state police command headquarters stormed the bookshop and arrested the owner, Zion Akpan.

    Amudipe, who spoke with The Nation after the raid, said the anti-piracy operation was sequel to a petition from Litramed Publications Nigeria Limited.

    He explained that the petitioner complained that Zion bookshop has been engaging in sales of pirated copies of textbooks from Litramed Publications Nigeria Limited.

    The NCC boss said: “Suspected pirated books belonging to Litramed Publications Limited worth N600, 000 was impounded during the raid.

    “Preliminary investigation revealed that these booksellers procure the said copies from yet- to- be identified sources and offer for sale at the same price with the original copies.

    “This trend, it has been found, is now short-changing the right owner who had invested time, money and other resources to publish the said books.

    “The copyright owner of these books is allegedly losing millions of naira to these illegal sales of pirated copies of the said books.”

    Amudipe reaffirmed NCC’s commitment to its policy of zero-tolerance to piracy in the country.

    He urged all stakeholders in the creative industries to fully support the ongoing national copyright protection and ant-ipiracy campaign.

    Speaking to our correspondent shortly after his arrest, Akpan, who said he has been doing the business for 11 years, said he bought the books from Samuf Company.

    His words: “I don’t know what the NCC is saying that I am dealing in pirated copies. I bought the books from Samuf Company based at 2, Umoren Street Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.

    “I have my invoice here and I have contacted the company. All my efforts to explain to NCC officials and the Police that I am not selling pirated copies failed.”

  • NCC to sanction frequency jammers

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned individuals and organisations  that install frequency jammers which disrupt the free flow of communication traffic on their premises to remove them or be sanctioned.

    Its Director, Spectrum Administration, Dr Nwaulume Augustine, said the regulator monitors jammers, adding that when such is discovered, the regulator would demobilise the jammers.

    He said frequenc+y jammers are equipment that harbours no data.

    He said: “Frequency jammers are like white noise that you generate to disrupt the actual radio communication.

    “They are done deliberately so that you will not be able to initiate or receive calls. That is the intention.”

    On the country’s campaign to meet the broadband target, he said a committee had been set up to harmonise the handover of the spectrum that would partly facilitate the achievement from the goals. The frequencies are still in the custody of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

    The spectrum is called 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) and it ranges from 2.5GHz to 2.69Ghz. Before now, it was used by the NBC operators who are licensed to do Muti-channel Multi-point Distribution ++System (MDDS).

    MDDS is defined as a wireless system consists that of head-end equipment (equipment for satellite signal reception, radio transmitter, other broadcast equipment, and transmission antenna) and reception equipment at each subscriber location (antenna, frequency conversion device, and set-top device). MMDS transmits on Super High Frequency (SHF) microwave frequencies and can be encoded for pay-for-view and subscriber services, all from studio facility.

    He said: “That committee is still working. I don’t know if it is possible for the licence to be auctioned this year based on the fact that not so much progress has been made with regard to getting it freed from those users.

    “But I am very sure that by the first or second quarter of next year, something would have happened because it is very important.  It is very vital to wireless broadband.” He spoke on the sideline at a capacity training forum for journalists in Lagos.

  • MTN plans $1b Nigeria tower network’s sale

    MTN plans $1b Nigeria tower network’s sale

    Africa’s largest phone operator, MTN Group Ltd. (MTN) is planning to sell a stake in its Nigerian mobile tower network, which it values at more than $1 billion, this year.

    Chief Financial Officer, MTN Nigeria, Andrew Bing who dropped this hint in Lagos yesterday said bidding process is already ongoing.

    “There is a bidding process going on, so they’re busy doing a due diligence on us, on our towers, our processes and we’re doing due diligence on them, if they’re the right company. During this year that process will then come to a conclusion where there will be a financial bid and a transfer of towers,” Bing told Bloomberg in Lagos.

    MTN is the largest operator in the country, with footprints in all the 36 states of the federation. The telco, along with two others, has been barred from adding new subscribers due to failure to meet the key performance indicators (KPIs) set by the regulatory body, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    The telco last year raised N470 billion from 24 local and international lenders. The local facilitating banks include GTBank; Zenith Bank; Access Bank; UBA; Diamond Bank; Ecobank; First Bank Plc; FCMB; Diamond Bank; Union Bank; Stanbic IBTC Bank; Citibank; Keystone Bank; Mainstreet Bank; FSDH and Standard Chartered while the international banks include three from China (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; China Development Bank and China Construction Bank); two from South Africa (Rand Merchant Bank and Export Development Bank).

    The deal also saw the inclusion of KFW-IPEX Bank of Germany and Canada and NedBank Limited.

    Carriers in Africa are offloading the assets, which cost more to run on much of the continent than in some other parts of the world because of the need for backup generators and batteries to guard against power failures. Towers and the infrastructure that accompanies them can account for more than 60 per cent of the expense to build a mobile network, according to data from IHS Holding Ltd., a telecommunications infrastructure company.

    MTN, based in Johannesburg, hasn’t decided on the stake it will retain in its Nigerian tower network, which comprises about 11,000 towers, and that will depend on the company it sells them to, said Bing, 49, who will go on sabbatical leave from the company at the end of this month.

    Bing said: “There is the need for more towers and there will be and therefore the towers do become a strategic business going forward, but having a tower to yourself is a costly business. The ability to share those costs is what helps drive profitability.”

     

  • Re: Pirated Nollywood

    Re: Pirated Nollywood

    TO the multi-talented filmmaker, Tunde Kelani, his latest blockbuster, Maami, might just be his last release within the shores of Nigeria. This is sequel to the ripping activities of pirates who syndicated his latest effort just as it was released to the public. This lamentation by TK as he is fondly called within the film circle underscores the intention of another multi-talented cinematographer, Kunle Afolayan, to relocate to God’s Own country where his creativity and hard work would not only be recognized but also generously rewarded.

    Kelani’s experience with his new flick is another sad commentary on the failure of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) whose mandate is to fight piracy to transform Nollywood into a goldmine. TK’s predicament is not peculiar; it is what every filmmaker grapples with in an industry where gains of movie making are lopsidedly shared between pirates and producers.

    The NCC needs to step up its operations by increasing its staff strength and embark on aggressive campaign to arrest the menace of piracy in order to prevent brain drain in the Nigerian entertainment industry. The maximum support of players in the industry is crucial here.

    –Thompson Taiwo writes from Lagos.

  • Former NCC Boss Assassinated by Gun men in Anambra

    Former NCC Boss Assassinated by Gun men in Anambra

    Tragedy struck at Nibo community, Awka South local government Area, Anambra state when gun men suspected to be members of the community struck and killed the former Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Dr Emma Nnamah .

    Nnamah was accosted by his attackers when entering the compound of her late Aunty for a meeting for her burial. They asked him to lie down but he allegedly queried them on why he should lie down as an Onowu of Nibo but he was shot badly and was rushed to the hospital where he died.

    President General of the Community , Okey Goodluck Nwankwo broke the news of the death of Nnamah even as the Police spokesperson Emeka Chukwuemeka said he is CPS and would find out as at the time of going to the press.

    Since the his killing police men have taken over the community in search of suspects as family members including drivers are allegedly fingered following the plans for renovation of the house preparatory for the burial. The robbers were asking for the money before the ugly encounter that led to the death of Late Nnamah. Information had it that he came back from Umuahia for the meeting.

    Sources said Nnamah went to his mothers village Umuka, Ezeawulu Village for discussions on the burial of his mothers sister, his aunty Late Mrs Ezekwe whose husband was the late first Igbo Physician in Igbo land , Late Dr Philip Ezekwe. He died during the war.

    Nnamah until his death was the Owelle of Nibo and was also former Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chairman and is a Chief from Umuanum village, Nibo.

     

  • Switch to digital broadcasting’ll be chaotic, warns ex-NCC commissioner

    Switch to digital broadcasting’ll be chaotic, warns ex-NCC commissioner

    Any attempt by Nigeria to switch over to digital broadcasting next year will lead to chaos, a former Executive Commissioner, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Stephen Bello, has warned.

    Bello, who is the Principal Partner, Kayafas Konsult Limited, said with the level of preparation on ground, any attempt by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to switch over will leave over 90 per cent of the 167 million population shut out from the rest of the world.

    The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has set next year as deadline for member-countries to switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting.

    ITU has also warned of dire consequences for member-countries that fail to meet the deadline.

    Speaking on the sideline at a training by the NCC for lawmakers in Lagos, he said broadcasting is the most in terms of its ubiquity, availability, cost and reliability.

    He said: “Digital broadcasting is coming upstream, but the 2015 target for switch over to digital television is not achievable

    “Transmitting stations may be able to broadcast digital TV signals, but 90 per cent of television sets will not be able to receive the signals.

    “If they go digital next year, 90 per cent of Nigerians will be cut off from their TVs. If they switch off analogue to digital, there will be chaos.”

    According to him, his conclusion is based on the premise that infrastructure that will facilitate seamless transmission are still not available.

    Bello said: “There will be need for government to facilitate local manufacture or massive importation of set-top boxes which will enable present analogue TV sets to receive digital signals if there is a switch over in 2015.

    “Other infrastructure such as data centres and machine-to-machine communication are gradually being introduced into the Nigerian market and in a few years will begin to contribute to economic development.”

  • Budget: Reps okay N54.4b for NCC

    The Hon. Oyetunde Ojo- led House of Representatives Committee on Communications yesterday approved N54.4 billion as the budget of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

    This was sequel to a successful defence of the 2014 estimates before the committee at the National Assembly yesterday.

    Members of the committee expressed their satisfaction on the efforts of the NCC at improving the communication sector, and subsequently approved the amount.

    Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Eugene Juwah, while presenting the budget, told the committee that out of the N54.4 billion estimate, N14.8 billion was for recurrent expenditure, with capital and special expenditure having N15.8 billion, and that the sum of N8.4 billion would be transferred to the Universal Service Provision Fund.

    According to him, N7.4 billion from spectrum fees and N8 billion operating surplus would be transferred to the Federation Account.

  • Insecurity, others threaten broadband, says Juwah

    Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah has identified multiple taxation/regulation, premeditated and accidental vandalism, insecurity, right of way (RoW) bottlenecks as some of the problems that will hurt broadband penetration in the country.

    He, however said the successful auctioning of one slot of 20 megahertz (MHz) bandwidth in the 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum and the launch of the National Broadband Plan by the Federal Government are part of steps that have positioned the country to join the league of knowledge driven economies.

    Juwah, who spoke over the weekend in Lagos, during the 10th anniversary of Telecoms Consumer Parliament, said: “In the drive towards the provision of pervasive broadband infrastructure, challenges do exist. Some of these are issues of right of way; multiple regulations; multiple taxation by several government agencies; vandalism of telecoms infrastructure; and security challenges in some parts of the country.”

    He said the spectrum auctioned last month will facilitate the roll-out of broadband using the open access model which will ultimately grow the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    “The economic impact of broadband is positive as shown from studies of the World Bank which showed that 10 per cent points increase in broadband penetration leads to a 1.38 per cent in GDP.

    “Although this percentage appears small, if you relate it to the trillion Naira national GDP, the increase is quite enormous.”

    “The impact of broadband penetration on national development is immense: it stimulates economic growth, increase productivity, provide citizens access to government activities as well as enhance e-application initiatives such as e-health, which enhances the delivery of health care to citizens; e – commerce, which enhances the delivery of business activities; e – education, which provide access to knowledge and learning to citizens and e-banking, which provide financial access to all.”

    He said the country has witnessed a voice telephone revolution in the last 12 years when the total connected lines was mere 400,000 in 2001, stressing that the total active lines in the country have reached a phenomenal 117 million as at the end of January this year.

    Juwah said the next revolution is now the NCC’s regulatory agenda which is “Broadband Revolution.”

    He said acknowledging the role of broadband to national development, the Federal Government took several steps including the articulation of a national broadband plan as well as continually taking steps at providing an enabling environment for the development of infrastructure that will support the growth and access to broadband services at affordable cost to consumers. According to him, the framework to support the broadband infrastructure has been fully articulated and is being implemented by the Commission as reflected in the open access model adopted for the country.

  • NCC Act obsolete, says ex-NCC commissioner

    NCC Act obsolete, says ex-NCC commissioner

    The laws regulating the telecoms sector are outdated and should be reviewed to accommodate emerging issues in the sector, a former executive commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Stephen Bello, has said.

    Speaking at a workshop for members of the National Assembly on ICT Infrastructure as a key driver for building development – What role for the legislature? in Lagos, Bello said the Nigeria Communications Act 2003 is obsolete and needed to be reviewed to take care of issues which were not captured in the law.

    According to him, the Act should not only be rejiged, the Federal Government and the National Assembly must ensure that the law be reviewed periodically, suggesting a timeline of between 10 and 15 years.

    Bello, who is a former acting EVC of the NCC, also challenged the lawmakers on the need to streamline the overlapping functions of various government agencies and parastatals to eschew unhealthy competition and rivalry.

    He said agencies whose functions are found to be overlapping could be merged for efficient service delivery.

    According to him, the information communication technology (ICT) sector globally has evolved with data centres and machine-to-machine communications have become the vogue.

    He said the coming of data centres have changed the face of the industry, arguing that the existence of data centres have helped push the business of Facebook and other social media platforms because they have reservoirs where they could warehouse the huge data of users.

  • 2.3GHz spectrum: NCC silent on payment of $23,251m

    2.3GHz spectrum: NCC silent on payment of $23,251m

    It was unclear last night whether Biflux Communications, the winner of the 2.3giga hertz (GHz) spectrum sold by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on February 19had paid the $23.251million bid price.

    According to the guidelines, the winner has 14 “business days” to pay the bid price. The loser, Globacom, automatically carts away the prized spectrum, if it fails to meet the deadline. The 14-day window lapsed yesterday.

    Director, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Nwaulume Augustine, explained during the auction, that the 14 business days started counting from when the winner was announced, adding that aside the $23.251million bid price, the firm also has 30 days to pay another N155million for Unified Access Service Licence which will allow it to operate as “wholesale wireless broadband services’ provider.

    An NCC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity last night, said though it is true that the deadline lapsed yesterday, there was still time for the firm to pay.

    “It lapses today (yesterday), but today has not ended. So, your anxiety over whether they will pay or not, is baseless,” the official said.

    While announcing the winner, the Executive Vice President/Chief executive Officer, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, said the process which was electronically powered, went through two rounds. While the first round, which had set $23million in addition to another 15 per cent which made total to stand at $26.450million, had produced no winner, the machine immediately switched to “tie breakers’ indicating that neither of the two bidders was ready to go above what was put on offer.

    He said the failure to meet the payment schedule would see Glo coasting home with the licence.

    Director, Bitflux Communications, Biodun Omoniyi, congratulated the NCC on the open, fair and transparent process, and Globacom on being magnanimous even in defeat because, according to him, “nobody can put his head down to fight with the Bull.”

    Another Director, Tokunbo Talabi, expressed gratitude to the NCC for organisisng a “suspense filled and tension soaked, yet transparent bid process”. He thanked everyone for the support and prayers, adding that the firm will not disappoint Nigerians.

    Group Chief Operating Officer, Globacom, Mohammed Jameel who led the team, said the national operator considered the spectrum price too high, when compared with what was offered in the past, adding that it does not align with the telco’s business model.

    He commended the NCC for the successful completion of the process and wished the winner the best, adding that Glo will be willing to participate in subsequent spectrum auctions by the NCC.

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications Technology, Dr Tunji Olaopa, the Minister, Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said the emergence of a wholesale wireless broadband service provider, will accelerate broadband penetration in the country and spur economic growth, development and prosperity of the people of Nigeria.

    She said since a 10 per cent increase in broadband translates to 1.3 per cent growth in the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the impact of cheap and ubiquitous broadband on national development could only be imagined.

    Mrs Johnson pledged to keep working hard to ensure that all the obstacles on the way of infrastructure roll-out in the country are removed, adding that the fact that the telecoms industry is growing at 30 per cent is symptomatic of the fact that the prospects for returns on investment are enormous.

    According to him, the result was not expected but said the firm drew up its business plan and followed it to the letters, having faith in itself and was driven by patriotic zeal. He said the result is a clear vote for smaller firms too, saying:”Giving us a chance to do this is a way of encouraging indigenous companies to grow.”