The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NCC

  • Copyright war: Reps fault NCC

    Copyright war: Reps fault NCC

    The House of Representatives has faulted the decision of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for failing to recognize the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) as a royalty- collecting society for musical works.

    The lawmakers are proposing a review or reform of the Copyright Act because, as a regulatory body, NCC has shown itself to be biased and compromised.

    During the consideration and adoption of a report yesterday, following the investigation of the NCC by the House Committees on Justice and Judiciary, the lawmakers mandated the Copyright Commission to open the door for the registration of other qualified organizations as collecting societies.

    The report was presented by the Chairman of Committee on Justice, Ali Ahmad.

    All the recommendations of the report were adopted by the lawmakers at the Committee of the Whole chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.

    The recommendations include: “That, given the state of the law and available technology, the NCC is not justified in refusing to register MCSN, one of the two de facto collecting societies as alternative body in the music industry in Nigeria.

    “That the Musical Copyright of Nigeria (MCSN), having satisfied all the requirements of the law, should be registered by the Nigerian Copyright Copy Commission (NCC) forthwith.

    “That the continued refusal to register the MCSN is casting NCC, a regulatory agency, as having been compromised and pursuing only the interest of a particular section of the industry.

    “That the NCC should be urged to rise above board, in order to be seen as fair and just.

    “That the NCC should revisit the application of other organizations that applied to it for license as collecting societies for performing and mechanical rights in musical works, with a view to determining whether or not, based on the provision of the Copyright Act and its regulations, they presently qualify for license as collecting societies, regardless of the existence or non-existence of a licensed collection society for musical works in Nigeria.

    “That in considering applications for grant of license under the Copyright Act and its regulations, the NCC should desist from giving consideration to extraneous matters.

    “That the Committee on Justice should liaise with the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, the NCC, the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission and all stakeholders in the copyright sector with a view to carrying out a review or reform of the Copyright Act and its regulations in order to, amongst others:

    “Align their positions with the provisions of the Constitution of the country, clear any inconsistencies, ambiguities or vagueness relating to registration and licensing of multiple collection societies.

    “Make operations of the NCC transparent and accountable to the citizens, particularly Article 5 of the Berne Convention, the Rome Convention and WIPO Copyright Treaty’ to which Nigeria is a signatory and

    “Make the Act and its regulations acceptable to stakeholders and Nigerians, generally.”

  • Poor service: NCC threatens sanctions against telecoms

    Poor service: NCC threatens sanctions against telecoms

    •Says poor service may attract initial N5m fine, N500, 000 per day

    All the eight telecommunication companies in the country have up till the end of this month to improve their services or start paying hefty fines to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) under fresh regulations just rolled out by the agency.

    The NCC is to the telecoms what the Central Bank is to the banking sector.

    Under the new dispensation ,any errant operator could be banned from selling SIM cards from December 31.

    Each of the operators with poor service may henceforth pay fines ranging between half a million naira and N5million per day.

    The eight operators asked to buckle up are: MTN; Airtel; Etisalat; Globacom; Swift Networks; Intercellular; Multilinks; and Visafone.

    The NCC communicated its decision to the operators in a December 10, 2013 letter by its Executive Chairman, Eugene Juwah,S through the Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Josephine Amuwa.

    The letter entitled “Notice of intention to issue Direction pursuant to Sections 53 and 54 of the NCC Act, 2003” asked the operators to sit up.

    It said: “Whereas: (a) The Quality of Service Regulations, 2012 developed and published by the Commission specified certain Key Performance Indicators (KPI) threshold to be maintainedby telecommunication service providers.

    “(b) The commission after careful investigation of the Quality of Services of all the major network operators has concluded that the present service being provided by telecommunication service providers falls below the KPI published by the Commission in the Quality of Service Regulations, 2012.

    “Now therefore, the Commission having critically reviewed the declining Quality of Service and in exercise of its statutory powers intends to issue a direction in the following terms:

    • Failure to comply with any direction that may be issued pursuant to the above notice will result in the imposition of sanction in the amount of five million naira (N5, 000,000) and a further sum of N500, 000 per day after the expiration of the notice for as long as the contravention persists and calculated from the deadline specified by the Commission for the operator to meet the minimum standard of quality of service.

    • Your comments/ submissions on this notice should be submitted on or before 20th December, 2013; failing which, the Commission shall issue the direction as aforesaid compelling you to comply.

    •Your comments/ submissions on this notice of intention to issue a direction should be forwarded to the Executive Chairman, NCC.”

    This is the second time the NCC will be forced to call the operators to order on poor services.

    All the operators were sanctioned N1,170,000, 000 in May 2012 for failing in different KPI s.

    Each of the operators was sanctioned as follows: MTN Nigeria Communications and Etisalat, N360,000,000 ( Three Hundred and Sixty Million ) each; Airtel -N270,000,000 (Two Hundred and Seventy Million Naira); and Globacom attracted a penalty of N180,000,000 (One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira).

    An NCC said that the commission had no choice than to wield the big stick again in light of persistent complaints by Nigerians.

    “The ultimatum on the improvement on Quality of Service is from December 31st, implying the Commission would take another measurement on this date,” the source said.

    “These operators have not improved in spite of the sanctions imposed on them in 2012.

    “The implication is that if any of the operators failed in KPI by 31 December , it would warrant stoppage of sale of SIM cards by the offending operators.

    “ All the operators may be affected as most of them are not performing to the satisfaction of the key consumers especially in the area of drop calls which has become more rampant in recent times.

    “The failure of the operators to meet with the terms of agreement with the Commission in 2012, will warrant implementation of the Key Performance Indicators early instituted by the Commission, which would imply much more drastic action.

    “The stoppage of SIM card, would not preclude issuance of sanctions as done in 2012 as the Commission is angered by the fact that the KPI’s were lowered after the sanctions but the operators did not meet to the terms of agreement it entered with the Commission to improve quality over a 12 months period during which it promised to meet with the KPI’s.”

  • Telcos fret over NCC’s broadband policy

    Telcos fret over NCC’s broadband policy

    • NCC dismisses fear

    Telecoms services providers have kicked against the open access policy of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which proposes giving subsidies to new players, arguing that the policy is against liberalisation and deregulation, which opened up the sector to investments.

    But the NCC has dismissed any such fear, insisting that the policy would only spur competition and encourage the availability of broadband to people for economic growth.

    It intends to license seven InfraCos to provide broadband services. They licencees will enjoy Federal Government’s grant to roll out services.

    Customer Service Executive at MTN Nigeria, Akinwale Goodluck, who chaired a panel discussion titled: Broadband: Open access, spectrum, right of way, stimulating demand at this year’s edition of the yearly Telecoms Executives and Regulator’s Forum held at the weekend in Lagos, identified cost and bureaucracy as factors militating against the swift deployment of infrastructure in the country. He lamented that they had also affected the quality of telecoms services to end users.

    Goodluck, who is also vice chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), spoke on the broadband policy, expressing the hope that it would take into account firms that have invested in similar services.

    Managing Director, ipNX Nigeria, EjayiAror, said the deregulation of the telecoms sector has brought some gains to the country. He feared that the attempt by the NCC to reverse the principle through granting of subsidies to some players might create disinvestment in the sector.

    Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Eugene Juwah, said he would have been surprised if the broadband access policy went unchallenged by stakeholders because other players were coming in.

    He said the commission was neither against deregulation nor liberalisation, but encouraging the development of the country, adding that the speed of Internet in Ghana was 10 times that of Nigeria, lamenting that there was 10 terabytes of bandwidth capacity lying idle.

  • Why telcos shun indigenous software, by NCC

    Why telcos shun indigenous software, by NCC

    THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has described indigenous software as pedestrian, saying that is a major reason telecoms operators do not patronise them.

    Director, New Media and Information Security at the NCC, Dr Sylvanus Ehikioya, blamed this development on the dearth of relevant modern development tools and a few tertiary institutions offering computer science in the country.

    He said one reason local software are not patronised by telcos is that software skill is a technical skill and you do not just put any software. Most computer science graduates are incapacitated because of the environment they find themselves; majority of them don’t know how to create applications using modern development tools.

    “Two, those of them that know how to use modern development tools do not go beyond the mundane software. What I call the mundane is the inventory system or point of sale. All these are local things. Telecoms is a specialised technology that requires some specialised skills and unless you work in that environment you will not be able to fit in,” Ehikioya said at a forum on Confirmation of Reasonableness of Services for Foreign Exchange Transaction in the Telecommunication Sector: Trends, Challenges & Way Forward in Lagos.

    According to him, to grow indigenous ICT capacity, the NCC has made it clear to the operators that those things that could be handled by Nigerians must be exempted from the invoices presented to the NCC for foreign exchange (forex) approval.

    “From the NCC perspective, in order to help us grow local capacity, we are saying that things that involve inventory, human resource management, event management and ticketing, those can be created locally,” he said.

    He added that the regulator encourages local capacity building through training offered at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) and support to the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON)

    He said: “We are reviewing submissions from academia in terms of the project we want to fund. We at the NCC are doing everything possible to ensure that local content in telecoms sector is enhanced.

    “If you look at the position of the NCC, we said that it is not all software that we will allow payment for any longer. There are certain software that can be created by boys from Otigba (Computer Village) if we encourage them and that is where the ISPON into play.”

    They interact with the NCC most of the time to help in the development of Nigeria local content.”

  • NCC sets agenda for African telecoms regulators

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday urged regulators across the continent to make the subscribers the cornerstone of regulation, arguing that as the final consumer, they deserve quality telecoms services.

    Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, said though the potential for growth in telecoms sector on the continent was huge, the growth and the shift of emphasis from licensing to other obligations as consumer protection had increased the scope and complexity of regulating telecommunications.

    “Regulators are now faced with the huge challenges of matching its regulatory policies with the various stakeholders’ interest,” Juwah said.

    Juwah, who spoke on Regulatory Trends, Challenges and Potential for Growth at the maiden edition of Conference of African Telecoms Regulators on Consumer Affairs, said the further growth envisaged in the telecoms sector could only be achieved if regulators across the continent come together and cross-pollinate ideas on how to deliver better regulations to give the consumers a pride of place.

    “In doing so, I would like to propose that we closely examine some consumer issues peculiar not only to Nigeria but also to some other African countries. These issues are consumer care and quality of service; physically-challenged persons and services provisioning; promotion and lottery; dispute resolution; monitoring compliance; enhancing consumer awareness through information dissemination and education; consumer data protection; and consumer rights.” .

    Juwah told regulators and representatives of telecommunications authorities from over a dozen African countries that NCC had come up with several well-thought out policies and intervention mechanisms to grow the industry without undermining the protection, information and education (PIE) of consumers.

    He said the regulatory trends included the creation of a Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Digital Appreciation Project (DAP), Emergency Communication Centre (ECC); Advanced Digital Access Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADPTI), Wireless Cloud Programme (WCP) and School Access Programme (SAP).

    Other are Tertiary Institution Access Programme (TiAP); development of key performance indicators for monitoring quality of services, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card registration and launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

    According to him, the CAB, which was created in 2001, was a unique approach in regulation as the Bureau had been effectively serving as the industry’s watchdog, fullfilling the PIE requirements. “Specific programmes embarked upon by the CAB include Telecoms Consumer Parliament (TCP), Consumer Outreach Programme (COP) and Town Hall Meetings (THMs),” he said.

    He said while the DBI was established to provide training encompassing every subject affecting management, implementation and regulation, DAP was aimed at encouraging the appreciation and use of ICT tools in secondary schools. “It involves the assessment of the ICT needs of selected schools and followed by meeting of those needs through the provision of infrastructure and equipment,” he said.

    On the ECC, he said they were semi-independent and dedicated Emergency Communications Systems for interconnecting the people to emergency call centres for onward transmission of calls to the requisite response agencies such as ambulance service, Police, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and others. The project will be built in the 36 states and Abuja.

    He identified regulatory challenges to include distribution of bandwidth resources, allocation of scarce resources, increasing collaboration with other regulatory agencies, dispute resolution, rapid change in technology and universal access obligation.

  • Rights infringement: NCC to move against hotel owners

    The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has threatened legal action against owners of hotels and related facilities in the country, who infringed on rights of broadcast stations.

    NCC’s Director of Enforcement, Augustine Amodu said, on Monday in Abuja, that the commission will not hesitate to sue any hotel and its management found to have engaged in illegal consumption of services of broadcast stations.

    He spoke after leading the commission’s enforcement officers on inspection tour of some hotels in Abuja.

    The team discovered that most of the hotels visited utilised services of Multichoice – a digital broadcast station – for commercial purposes, without legal authorisation.

    Amodu said, by the visit of the NCC officials, the hotels have been given notices of their infringement and have been given two weeks within which to regularise their contract with the broadcast company, failing which the commission will initiate legal action against those found wanting.

     

  • No errant operator’ll be spared, says NCC

    THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)will not relent to bring sanity to the telecoms sector and ensure that operators offer high quality services, its Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, has said.

    He spoke on the sideline at a ceremony where the commission received the African Regulator of the Year award in Lagos, over the weekend.

    He said the regulator was working to ensure an enabling environment that would guarantee healthy competition, adding that NCC has entered into an agreement with the dominant operator on what to do.

    “The NCC will not hesitate to sanction any operator that disobeys its directives. NCC is monitoring the industry, watching the operators to see if they are keeping to the letters of the key performance indicators (PKIs) which they freely entered into with the NCC. The interest of customers is upper most,” he added.

    He explained that one of the steps taken to ensure that subscribers have a choice, is the introduction of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme in the country, adding that it has brought competition to the industry as each service provider takes steps, not only to retain its old customers but win new ones.

     

  • ‘High cost affects internet service quality’

    ‘High cost affects internet service quality’

    The Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) has blamed the unpalatable end-user experience of data services (internet) on the prohibitive cost of bandwidth.

    This is despite the landing of Glo1, MainOne West African Cable System (WACS) funded by MTN, and dormant capacities in NigComSat R and SAT 3 in which the moribund NITEL is a major stakeholder.

    NIG President, Bayo Banjo said the cost of bandwidth is too expensive for the average internet user, adding that this has led to the frustration users face after subscribing to one plan from their service providers or internet service providers (ISPs).

    He said this development has led to ISPs not living up to their promises, adding that this explains why it takes so long for internet pages to load, or never loads at all.

    “The reason people experience frustration when using the internet is because the cost of bandwidth is too high. We have to bring down the price of bandwidth. Bandwidth is too expensive in this country.  So what the companies are doing is that they buy bandwidth and share. The average Nigerian cannot afford the punitive cost of bandwidth, so that is the cause of the slow internet speed,” Banjo, who is also the chief executive officer of Disc Communication, said.

    He said the solution to the problem is to crash the cost of bandwidth, urging the Federal Government to step in and subsidise the cost so that when it becomes ubiquitous, the benefits arising from the economy of scale will be fully tapped.

    He said to get good bandwidth, there’s need to bring the cost down. “What I told the government is that they should bring down the cost of bandwidth. The Federal Government should subsidise the cost of bandwidth so that when the customer base becomes large, when the ordinary man on the street also begins to browse, there will be economies of scale that will bring down the price,” he said.

    According to him, the Chief Executive Officer of MainOne Cable Company, Ms Funke Opeke, has assured that when uptake volumes cross a certain threshold, she will be willing to reduce the cost of bandwidth.

    “Somebody has to take the flak. Even MainOne CEO, Funke Opeke, had assured that if she has certain amount of volume, she can bring bandwidth cost down to $25 per month for one megabyte which is about N2,000 for a whole megabyte but she needs that volume.

    “So, what firms like Mobitel, Spectranet (and others) are doing is that they say they are giving you one megabyte at N10000 per month but the truth is that it is really not one meg. They are sharing bandwidth. That is why sometimes it goes so slow that you cannot open a page, sometimes it break alltogether. So, the Federal Government has a big role to play in this matter,” he added.

  • NCC urged to save subscribers from telcos’ deceit

    NCC urged to save subscribers from telcos’ deceit

    It was a carnival like gathering; music blaring and young boys and girls dancing their hearts out. Though it was a wet day, students on holidays, roadside traders and commercial motorcyclists (Okada) gave life to it all as they engaged in Makossa dance.

    As the music blarred, the young boys and girls wearing the T-shirt and face cap branded in the red colours of Airtel Nigeria took to the streets and corners of Lafenwa, a rural community in Ogun State, canvassing for customers, promising them mouth-watering incentives.

    The incentives include N500 worth of airtime and 20 megabytes of data on activation of the SIM card bought at N100.

    So, as each canvasser succeed in convinicing “a customer,” he led him or her to a canopy. At this point, the details of the new SIM (serial number and phone number) are taken while data and biometric information are captured.

    “Daddy, I assure you that after three hours, this card will be activated. You will get not only N500 worth of airtime but also 20 megabytes of free data for you to browse the internet. I swear to God almighty,” a young man assured a customer.

    While the promise of activation three hours later was kept, the other incentives that were used as bait to trap the customers are left unfulfilled.

    A victim lamented: “I already have an Airtel line which I bought for about N12000 when the revolution first came. But the young man convinced me that it was real and I said ok, let me see how true it could be,” he said.

    Reacting, President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), Deolu Ogunbanjo said the practice was not limited to Airtel, adding that all the operators were guilty of deceiving subscribers.

    According to him, it is the agents of the operators that engage in these “unwholesome practices” to meet up with the target they were given. “They have given all their agents targets to meet. All of them excluding Visafone, engage in this practice. The regulator must act to save the consumers. The operators must caution their agents,” he said.

    Contacted, Vice President, Corporate Communications & CSR at Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah, requested the identities of the customers through their phone numbers.

    Director, Public Affairs, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Tony Ojobo, said he was in a meeting and promised to call back. Calls put to his number were not picked subsequently.

  • ‘Govt insincere about tackling telecoms sector challenges’

    ‘Govt insincere about tackling telecoms sector challenges’

    The Federal Government has been accused of not showing enough political will in tackling the challenges confronting the telecoms industry.

    Chief Executive Officer, Logica Group, Biodun Ajiboye, said issues, such as, expedited grant of right of way (RoW), wilful vandalism of telecoms infrastructure, multiple taxation/regulation and poor service quality were still in the industry because the Federal Government has failed to muster the political will to address the problems.

    According to him, the classification of telecoms infrastructure as Critical National Security Infrastructure would have addressed the big problem of wilful vandalism which has in part, accounted for the poor service quality being experienced by subscribers across the country.

    He accused the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) of not doing enough in the area of engaing the stakholders on the need to tackle these issues once and for all.

    “Some of the lapses range from the issue of right of way to multiple taxations/regulation, vandalism of telecom equipment, and failure of government to declare telecoms infrastructure as Critical National Security Infrastructure. These are the issues we are still battling with as an industry and I am not impressed about the way the regulator, the NCC is going about solving these problems as well,” he said in Lagos.