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Tag: spectrum

  • NCC’s proposed spectrum licensing pricing high, say telcos

    NCC’s proposed spectrum licensing pricing high, say telcos

    Telcos have said the pricing for the proposed licensing of spectrum in the new 38 gigahertz (GHz) and 42 GHz spectrum bands by the Nigerian Communications (NCC) is too high and does not take into account the realities in the country.

    They said the countries the pricing was benchmarked against were all matured telecoms markets, adding that the indexes do not speak to current market situation in the country.

    Speaking yesterday during the stakeholders consultative forum organised by the NCC on licensing of 38GHz, 42GHz and replanning of 23GHz spectrum at Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers, an official of Airtel, Luckky Ubani said the NCC  should take a second look at the pricing model to reflect what is happening in the country.

    But the NCC said it is not re-inventing the wheel, adding that its pricing was arrived at after evaluating what is happening in other jurisdictions.

    Its Deputy Director, Spectrum Administration Department, O. A. Yusuf said Nigeria has a huge population, stressing that the Commission is not opposed to any proposal on lowering the price for the spectrum. He said the Commission arrived at the pricing after a careful study of the pricing models in countries such as United States (U.S), United Kingdom, South Africa, Netherlands and Canada, arguing that the pricing was neither too low nor too high as it was in the medium level.

    Stakeholders agreed that written submissions be made to the NCC in four weeks time after which the proposal shall be deemed to have been approved by all.

    Speaking on the occasion, NCC CEO, Prof Umar Dambatta said the forum was organised because of the Commission’s believe that its actions must be guided by decisions that take cognisance of the inputs from the stakeholders.

  • Matters arising over sale of spectrum

    Matters arising over sale of spectrum

    The sale of the country’s 700MHz telecommunication spectrum for N34 billion to MTN Nigeria by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has set off a chain of reactions with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) calling for a review of the sale, among others, reports Bukola Aroloye

    Crux of the matter

    NBC had in September sold 700 MHz spectrum to mobile telecommunication outfit, MTN for N34 billion. The NBC is being accused of failing to follow due process in the sale of the high valued spectrum to MTN Nigeria, as well as selling the band far below its true market value.

    According to industry watchers, the N34 billion, which the spectrum was sold to MTN is considered a paltry amount as its true value is said to be in excess of N200 billion, even as it was alleged that Nigeria may have lost N162 billion because of the gross undervaluing of the spectrum.

    The industry watchers further revealed that by law, the NBC as the only regulator for broadcasting companies is also responsible for assigning broadcast frequencies it receives from National Frequency Management Board, NFMB, for private and TV stations.

    The only authority mandated under the Nigerian constitution to allocate spectrum to telephone carriers is the NCC, which is claiming not to be aware of the controversial N34 billion deals.

    The Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Emeka Mba, had at that time clarified why NBC sold the spectrum to MTN.

    He explained that the NBC needed money to finance the country’s Digital Switchover (DSO) project of migrating Nigeria from analogue television broadcasting to digital broadcasting by June 2017, hence the sale to MTN.

    However, the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, claimed ignorance of the deal, stressing that the value at which the spectrum was sold was far below what it ought to have been sold.

    The Nation learnt that the NBC is allegedly awash with reports of sharp practices, especially following the sale of the frequency spectrum for broadcast to the MTN.

     

    NCC’s studied silence

    Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Dambatta, of the Nigeria Communication Commission, has informed that the NCC will not publicly engage NBC. While acknowledging the fact that there is an issue, he argues matter-of-factly that that approach may not be right.

    “NCC will not publicly engage NBC, even though it is under a different ministry, because we don’t think it is the right approach. The Frequency Management Council, which is a very important organ of government that has a representation from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Communication Technology Ministry, will look into the matter,” Danbatta said in a statement released by the NCC.

    “The Frequency Management Council, which is a very important organ of government that has a representation from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Communication Technology Ministry, will look into the matter,” he said.

    Danbatta said the Commission was considering seeking new ways of moving MTN to the upper range of that frequency, which is not up to 700MHz.

    “The upper range for broadcasting is 694MHz that will free the 700MHz spectrum for use to facilitate communication services. That is the approach we intend to adopt to resolve the matter and I have spoken with the NBC on this and they have expressed readiness to come to the Commission to talk about it so that we can together be able to fashion out a way forward that will be devoid of any acrimony or rancour which normal Nigerians are used to when issues of this nature come up,” Danbatta said.

    Commenting on the NCC disapproval of the N34 billion MTN spectrum deal at a press conference, Chief Abel Danladi, one of the stakeholders, urged the Federal Government to ensure that the NBC complied with the spectrum policy on 700 mgHz and procurement guideline.

    He said the NCC reaction to the N34 billion MTN-NBC deal provided additional indication of the undue influence and interference of the South African telecom and broadcast monopolists in the nation’s digital broadcast industry in order to acquire domineering leverage comparable to their ownership and control of the GSM and cable TV sector in Nigeria.

    Danladi observed that the unfolding intransigence of the MTN over the brazen violation of the NCC policy on deactivation of pre-registered and unregistered lines which earned it a hefty fine necessitates national security concerns and measures to reserve the commanding heights of all strategic business operations for Nigerian investors.

    Investigation by The Nation revealed that there had been silence at the telecoms regulator office over the sales of 700 megahertz spectrum by the broadcasting regulator.

    But it was learnt that NCC was worried that the decision by NBC to monopolise the spectrum band would have negative implication in the telecoms sector.

    Nigeria missed the transition in June last  year, with the NBC citing lack of fund from the Federal Government as reason for its inability to join the countries that were able to effect the digital switch as stipulated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

     

    NBC’s defence

    Reacting to the development, Emeka Mba, Director General of the NBC said the corporation actually got permission from the right authority before embarking on the transactions.

    Mba, who said the 700MHz is for broadcast added that NBC does not advertise and the issue in contention” was given to the highest bidder after due process was taken.”

    According to the NBC boss,”700MHZ is not telecoms spectrum. It’s still broadcast spectrum until after Digital Switch Over,” he said, adding that approval was sought and received to raise revenue to pursue DSO by licensing commercially a portion of the digital dividend spectrum for converged broadcast services.

    Speaking in an in an interview in Lagos, Mba said in the long run, the Federal Government would also receive N100 billion income from spectrum sales.

    He said: “When it became obvious that government could not spare the money, and in order to avoid missing another deadline, we began to consider other options. Our broadcast frequency, which is to eventually form part of the digital dividend after the Digital Switch-over (DSO), had portions of it laying fallow while our broadcasters were still using part of it.

    “We, therefore, proposed and got proper permission from government to license part of our spectrum lying fallow and to use the proceeds to finance the DSO,” he stressed.

     

    EFCC to the rescue

    The Federal Government may review the 700MHz spectrum license sale following the ongoing probe into the activities of the NBC.

    As a sign of things to come, Mba was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly operating a secret account into which about N17billion out of N34bn paid by MTN Nigeria for the 700MHz license was kept.

    Part of the reasons for his arrest was a petition written by some aggrieved broadcast and telecoms industries players to EFCC alleging that Mba contravened due process in the spectrum sale to MTN, according to a source.

    Already, the Frequency Management Council (FMC) is reviewing the spectrum sale and the ongoing probe of NBC may provide the ground for its cancellation, the source, who is a top government official.

    The FMC which has a representation from the ministries of science and technology and communication was said to have given NBC the nod to sale the spectrum to MTN during twilight of Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    But some telecoms and broadcast firms who felt the deal was not transparent later kicked against the sale when the President Muhammadu Buhari administration came on board.

    Many troubles for NCC

    Just as the dust over the sale of the spectrum is yet to settle, a communication company, Pinnacle Communications Limited, has dragged the NBC and five other defendants before a Federal High Court in Abuja for issuing the same license it claimed to have won to a foreign competitor.

    In the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/2014 the plaintiff named the NBC, Mba, Attorney General of the Federation, AGF; MTS Communications; Details Nigeria Limited and NTA-Star Network Ltd as first to sixth defendants.

    The firm’s counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN) complained that after the plaintiff won the sole bid for the distribution of broadcast signals, the NBC allegedly issued licences to other companies in that regard.

    According to Daudu, “Pinnacle had been given a licenses and the license has been compromised by the NBC who issued multiple licenses, thereby making the licence to Pinnacle unprofitable.

    “The court is to decide whether the action of the NBC is right or wrong. We have an injunction to stop the NBC from going forward with issuing license to other companies.’’

  • Much ado about Spectrum

    Much ado about Spectrum

    THESE are indeed challenging times for Emeka Mba, Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Recently, Mba’s NBC was alleged to have sold the 700MHz spectrum in a hurry, knowing full well that it ought to release it to the National Frequency Board after the Digital Switch Over (DSO), for onward transfer to Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), who will then auction it to interested Nigerians.

    From inception, the NCC and the NBC shared seemingly similar regulatory functions but were markedly different by statutory standards. Though NCC and NBC had overlapping structures regarding the licensing for telecommunications companies, they both regulated separate and clearly demarcated sections of the Spectrum.

    While making clarifications on the alleged sale of Spectrum by NBC, Mba revealed that the basis for prior notification of NCC ahead of the licensing of MTN does not arise, constitutionally, legally and by regulatory practice.

    “The licence issued was for a converged digital broadcasting licence based on the existing NFMC protocol for broadcast,” he said. The document indicting the NBC also claimed that the body has no right to sell telecoms spectrum that exclusively belongs to NCC. But the broadcast aspect in telecommunications had always fallen under the beam of NBC as its prerogative.

    “The spectrum in question, 700MHz, is still a broadcast spectrum. 700MHz spectrum in question does not belong to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). It is, and remains within the broadcasting frequency spectrum. Indeed, several stations are currently broadcasting on that spectrum in several cities across Nigeria. Cable and UHF stations are on this frequency. The NCC is fully aware of this incontrovertible fact. The NBC enjoys a good working relationship with the NCC, and each of us respects each other’s boundaries.”

    Mba also maintained that NBC does not sell spectrum, rather it licences organisations based on applications to broadcast using available broadcast spectrum and other forms such as the IPTV. According to him, the allegation that NBC sold the spectrum is misleading.

    “It is only after the successful DSO that the 700 and portions of the 800MHz will be transferred to NFMC. NBC approvals are based on applications after assessment of the need and impact on the audiences, and the market. The same approach is used for IPTV and other forms of over the top services,” he observed.

    Mba’s argument was that if NBC does not have a legal framework to carry out a certain function, then it is considered a legal impossibility. Usually, the National Frequency Management Council has the oversight functions in the frequency territory, a fact that was also raised in the implicating document which alleged that NBC did not seek the permission of the said council before embarking on an unauthorised sale of frequency. NBC had long existed as a financially independent body that has earned the council’s nod in generating funds for its projects. Relying on this background, Mba shows the futility of seeking approval from the council to perform its statutory functions.

    “First of all, the NBC is not required by law or practice to refer back to the NFMC each time we issue a broadcast licence. These frequencies have since been allocated. The segment for broadcasting had been ceded to the NBC by the NFMC since, as has been with the Telecom Frequencies with the NCC. The NBC does not require approval or permission from NFMC for the licensing of the spectrum. However, since the issue of paucity of funds for DSO, which caused the country to miss the deadline became a major issue at the NFMC as well, the matter was tabled and efforts were made at the NFMC level to find funding for DSO. The Minister of Communication Technology who serves as the Chairman of NFMC not only raised this issue for deliberation, but also approved that NBC should find ways of generating funding for DSO on its own,” he explained.

    Mba stated that NBC only licensed an operator, in the case of MTN, to utilise the frequency to offer converged DTT services in the broadcasting industry. He also added that the Commission’s licensing process is remarkably different from the NCC since its approvals are based on applications and the easement of the submitted application proposals. In the end, NBC gets the job done, undertakes the assignment of raising funds for the successful Digital Switchover (DS0) in compliance with the industry standards and global best practices such that Nigeria can boast of more frequency spectrum.

    “Without the successful transition of analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting, there cannot even be talk of Digital dividend spectrum, which was already being cannibalised by the NCC in several piecemeal allocations without raising the necessary funds for the DSO,” he argued.

    Mba said that the deal, as it stands, affords Nigerians the best possible option for the provision of high quality converged broadcasting and telecommunications services, whilst enabling the funding for a successful DSO, which would free up more spectrum for the NCC to sell. And that is no rocket science.

  • ‘Secondary market for spectrum‘ll spur development’

    ‘Secondary market for spectrum‘ll spur development’

    In the telecoms and broadcast industries, spectrums are considered scarce and essential intangible commodities. For quality and ubiquitous services delivery, they are central. But some people are hoarding these commodities.  In this interview with LUCAS AJANAKU, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) President Lanre Ajayi says the government should create a secondary market for buying and selling spectrums to fast-track service rollout and enhance growth. Besides, he urges telcos to inform their customers before deactivating their SIMs. Excerpts:

    Let’s begin with recent subscriber identity module (SIM) card deactivation order handed down to telcos by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). Some people have blamed the telcos and NCC for bringing pains to over 10 million subscribers. Do you agree?

    I have not seen anybody that disagrees with the concept of SIM registration.  Even ordinary Nigerians seem to have accepted that it is important to register SIMs. They have realised the fact that for growth, national security, and for so many other reasons. I haven’t really seen anybody that has argued against SIM registration. And if that is the case, why would anybody continue to use a phone beyond the deadline set without registering the SIM. So, I think it should be known by everybody that at a point such phones that are not registered would be suspended. And to the best of my knowledge, what NCC directed operators to do was not to remove them from the network but to suspend them. Suspension simply means that if you go back and register, you will get your SIM activated. So I don’t see how that becomes a problem. Whoever has his phone suspended should walk to the nearest registration point, and get the SIM registered and the phone will be reactivated.

    But the telcos inundate customers with unsolicited SMS and calls. Don’t you think the customers should have been warned before the rude deactivation?

    I agree that there should have been some kind of warning, informing subscribers that they have one defect or the other and asking them what to do. I agree to that maybe that’s an area that could to be improved upon.

    This brings the issue of integrity to the data gathered. Security experts have described SIM registration as a charade because of obvious shortcomings. What is your reaction to this?

    The data collected may not be perfect but I think it’s the best for achieving security to a great extent but those can be improved upon over time. Certainly, there are many people who would want to play some games on the system but over time, they will be sorted out over time. It would not have been good if we did not start at all. But what is more important is for us to start first and we have started registering. Then, those areas that are deficient can be improved upon. That is my take on that.

    What about the huge money spent by the NCC and the telcos. Is it justified?

     My personal view when SIM registration issue came up was that it should have been left for the operators to handle. That was my own opinion in respect of that but in the wisdom of government decided that regulators should also participate and that has been done. So i think we should just leave that as it is.

    The National Broadband Plan set ambitious milestones and timeline for achieving them. With what is on ground, do you see these milestones been achieved?

    At this stage, we are very slow at achieving these milestones. But if we accelerate and expedient actions on certain this that we are meant to do, there is enough probability that we can achieve those milestones. The National Broadband Plan is very detailed, very thorough, and very specific about what has to be done so if those things that are meant to be done are done so why not? You can speed up action on implementation.

    What do you think government and the operators can do towards the realisation of those goals?

    Create the right enabling environment for the operators to expand their network. Create the right environment for the investors to put down necessary investment for these expansions. Somebody has to bring money on the table to build infrastructure. You need to encourage that person, that investor to bring that investment by creating the right environment. People call it policy inconsistencies, regulatory inconsistencies, appropriate fiscal policies, taxation and all the rest. So, if you create the right environment, people will come. The market is here, we all know it. That’s a pull to come, that’s an incentive on its own for people to come and invest but that s not enough. If the market is there and there are disincentives, there are obstacles or barriers, people will still hold back their investment in the industry.

    What role for the freed spectrums after digital migration?

    It is one of the factors that will enable us achieve penetration. Spectrum  is one of the reason will enable us to achieve it and that the only thing  if you listen to his presentation  this are basically two ways of  that will be providing access to people  the fibre active and the wireless . We need the ‘digital dividend’ spectrums so it will help but it certainly not a magic wand.

    However, it is not digital migration that will lead us there, digital migration will help us it is the fact that we need those spectrums that are being used for broadcast; it will help but that not the only critical success factor, it is about investment. You have to put money there so that operators can roll out networks and the investment will come when the environment is right. If people see that ok we put down investment and the environment is hostile and the policies are inconsistent, nobody will put down investment to expand the network very quickly. We need the right environment to be able to make that expansion and if the environment is not there based on the issues that have been identified, even today nobody will put down the appropriate investment.

    You advocated the creation of a spectrum market. When you create a spectrum market, don’t you think that would lead to people buying spectrums, keeping them and reselling them?

    What is wrong with that? Is it not better for someone who bought a spectrum and is not able to use for whatever reason to sell it to someone who is able to use it than for him to just keep the spectrum without being able to use it for whatever reason? Well you are denying him of his resources. He is losing money. The Nigerians that are meant to benefit from the usage of that spectrum; you are denying them of the services. So from both ends you are losing. The nation is losing, the investors are also losing. Is it not better that that man has an opportunity to sell that  spectrum, to make money and Nigerians are able to obtain services from the spectrum that is sold? So which one is better?  It simply makes sense that a secondary market is sensible because sometimes, you set up a plan that I want to roll out, and along the line there are unexpected distortions. For example, the money you expected to raise to do the roll out is not forth coming and you have paid for spectrum. So why will you hold on to the spectrum when it is not useful to you, it is not useful to Nigerians? Is it not better that you find someone to sell it to so that you will recoup your money or at least part of it and that spectrum is sold to someone who has the capacity to roll out? I think it is better for the country. I want someone to fault that my line of argument.

    But will this not result into speculators taking over the spectrum space?

    You see every good thing has its own down side. That’s a downside for it but it could be managed through regulatory framework. Put a regulation around it, once you recognise that there is a secondary market and there would be rules around the market. Once you set down the rules and enforce it, all those side effects would be managed.

    The NCC has set up a task force to address the issue of service quality. How do you see this?

    I would not know the reason why they will be setting up a tax force , but am sure they will be having a good reason for that .ordinarily , what we do is that would have been a job of a particular department.

    NCC do sanction operators, now they have set up a tax force. Do you think those sanctions are right?

    I don’t think sanction is the solution because there are so many challenges. So we need to remove those challenges if those challenges are removed, operators can now be sanctioned if they fail to meet the key performance indicators.  But as long as those challenges are there, we cannot we talking of sanctions. Let us do simple logical reasoning, the market is there and service and the operators are not able to provide the service. If they provide more services, they will make more money. Do you think they will not want to make the money? If they are handicapped they will not be able to do it, so let us remove these challenges and see if the operators will expand  the network or not

    Certain factors have been identified as bottlenecks to service quality. Are the telcos ever going to meet up with the KPIs jointly agreed to by the NCC and the telcos?

    The operators are still part of the industry. NCC certainly have to do more because the number of obstacles that have been identified ,numbers of challenges have been identified , is not that we expect the problem to disappear overnight but we expect accelerated actions in some of the issues that have been identified. And we all know the issue of difficulties in getting the right of way.

    ‘So, if you create the right environment, people will come. The market is here, we all know it. That’s a pull to come, that’s an incentive on its own for people to come and invest but that s not enough. If the market is there and there are disincentives, there are obstacles or barriers people will still hold back their investment’

    We need to address these issues holistically and set up action and also ensure that issues are resolved because there are other challenges and we need to start adjusting.

    Over the past 10 years, mobile subscriptions have gone up but these have not translated to coverage in several rural communities in spite of the money available at the disposal of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF). How can rural access be achieved?

    There are two basic things for achieving universal access. One of them is by the Fund you have just mentioned that will provide incentives to operators to move into both under-served and unserved rural areas. That is one way. Another way is by having service obligations to operators. In other words, when you are giving license, you say to them that if you must rollout in this urban area, it is obligatory for you to also rollout in the rural areas too. So it becomes an obligation. So it’s no more voluntary. But as it is now rollout is more or less voluntary. People concentrate in areas that are profitable and that is logical for any business man. But if your license makes it obligatory for you to also do some areas that are less viable, you will factor it together in your business plan, you will know that this where you are going to  loss and this is where you are going to profit. And you even it out. So we need to do a combination of both. That is my suggestion in this area.

    The world is moving from the internet of things to internet of everything.  How prepared are we for this considering that the country is far down in the network readiness ladder ranking?

    Let me be honest with you, I know of internet of things not internet of everything. That may be a new concept. I know we are doing internet of people now and that the new paradigm is the internet of things, in other words, machine will be able to communicate with machine (M2). And that is internet of things. Internet of everything, I guess is a company’s slogan. I don’t think it’s a generic concept, it’s like a company’s slogan. For the internet of things, the basic thing is to put the infrastructure in place and people will have knowledge of developed applications that would make those machines communicate. We are able to do it. It is not something that is that difficult. We are not breaking atoms here. It is just that difficult; just let the internet be available, let it be ubiquitous, let it the devices be intelligent. You know it means that the devices that would be manufactured would be intelligent enough such that it can communicate and for example, the tracker is a device connected to a machine such that if a car is jail-fenced; and maybe the car is not required to move beyond certain restriction, if it does and the GPS discovered that it has traveled beyond the specified space, the machine will notify another machine that will set up an alarm and maybe that machine can also send another information to the car to completely shut it down. They are communicating. That is the internet of things. That is just an example of internet of things. So, it is already happening, it is not futuristic. But ubiquitous use of it is what we have not seen but it’s already happening with us.

    As we look forward to the appointment of a new minister for Communication Technology, what will be your advice?

    We need someone who is able to move with time, who understands that technology is trendy and realises that quality environment is crucial; someone that also has to be dynamic. So we need someone that is forward looking; that can quickly understand issues and attend to those issues. Ws need experienced people who understand and have good understanding about the industry.

     

                       

     

     

     

  • Dearth of spectrum threatens broadband plan targets

    Lack of spectrum to drive the penetration of wireless broadband may scuttle the short, medium and long term ambition of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) of the Federal Government, The Nation has gathered.

    Under the NBP, for cities, accessibility through wired medium currently (2013) stands at 1.3 per cent with short term goal (2015) of 10 per cent, medium term (2018) 18 per cent and long term target (2020) of 25 per cent. For penetration, the current level stands at 0.3per cent while short term goal is 3.3per cent, medium; 5.3 per cent while long term is 8.3 per cent.

    For national target, availability through wireless currently stands at 33 per cent, with short, medium and long term targets of 60, 80 and 95 per cent respectively. For penetration or usage, it currently stands at 6 per cent with short, medium and long term ambition of 21, 42 and 76 per cent respectively.

    But one of the frequencies that will make this happen are still with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and there is no indication that it will be freed up soon to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for auctioning to operators.

    According to sources, the spectrum is called 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) and it ranges from 2.5GHz to 2.69Ghz. The source before now, it was used by the NBC licensed 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.

    According to the source, by the time the allocation was made at the international Telecommunications Union (ITU) for the frequency to also be used for International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT), the NCC contacted the National Frequency Management Committee (NFMC) and which requested the NCC and NBC to work out the modalities for the release of the band. A committee was subsequently formed for that purpose.

    According to ITU, “long term evolution (LTE)-Advanced and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced. Advanced systems include new capabilities that go beyond IMT-2000, widely deployed since 2000 and referred to as 3G mobile technologies. ITU has now specified the standards for IMT-Advanced, the next-generation global wireless broadband communications that provide access to a wide range of packet-based telecommunication services supported by mobile and fixed networks.

    Director, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Dr Nwaulume Augustine confirmed that indeed a committee has been put in place but unsure whether it will get the spectrum freed for the NCC. 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.

  • NCC begins 2.6GHz spectrum licensing

    NCC begins 2.6GHz spectrum licensing

    • Targets $224m revenue 

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has started the process that would culminate to the auction of licences in the 2.6gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, who spoke in Abuja advised interested parties to look up the Information Memorandum (IM) on the Commission’s website and be guided accordingly.

    He said the Federal Government would reap a minimum of $224 million from the auction, adding that the minimum slot for bidders would be four, while the maximum would be eight within the various spectrum chats available.

    Juwah said if the business atmosphere is favourable, the Federal Government could reap more revenue from the auction, stressing that necessary arrangements have been concluded for a transparent and hitch-free exercise.

    Represented  by its Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, he said interested participants and stakeholders are expected to abide by the provisions of the IM.

    Juwah said the spectrum auction was informed by the need to open up the space for the delivery of present and future generations of broadband services to subscribers in line with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) of 2013-2018.

    He said the commission is determined to achieve 30 per cent penetration in broadband expansion in the country, stressing that the 2.6GHz to be auctioned and 2.3GHz earlier auctioned would operate alongside each other to make the 30 per cent broadband penetration in the country by 2018 a reality.

  • 2.3GHz spectrum: Bitflux blames delayed roll-out on insecurity, policies

    2.3GHz spectrum: Bitflux blames delayed roll-out on insecurity, policies

    The Chief Executive Officer of VDT Communications, Mr Biodun Omoniyi, has blamed investment challenge occasioned by insecurity and government policies for the delays in rolling out service through the 2.3gigghertz (GHz) spectrum licence it won from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) last year.

    VDT is the driver of Bitflux, a consortium of VDT Communications, Bitcom Systems Limited and Superflux. The firm had defeated second national carrier, Globacom, to clinch the wholesale licence during an international auction in Abuja.

    Omoniyi, who spoke in Lagos on the sideline during the unveiling of the International Standards Organisation Certification, (ISO) 20000-1:2011 the firm got from the British Standards Institute (BSI), said the business operating environment has no incentives  for foreign direct investments, lamenting that the firm had to postpone its initial plan to roll out in the first quarter of this year.

    He said: “Bitflux won the 2.3GHz spectrum licence that was auctioned by the NCC last year, and VDT Communications is the major driver of Bitflux, which is a consortium of VDT Communications, Bitcom Systems Limited and Superflux.

    “The truth of the matter is that we are eager and ready to roll-out the service across Nigeria, and we would have done that earlier, but for the investment challenges in the country. We are, however, ready to roll-out, having signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an international vendor to supply equipment that will facilitate service rollout.

    “Initially, we wanted to rollout in the first quarter of the year, but that plan has been shifted by two weeks, which means we have a new date to commence service by April, this year.”

    He said in the past one decade when the firm began operation in the country, it has invested a lot of money in building a world-class technology firm that has become a pride, not only to the country but the international community.

    According to him, the continuous growth in technology solution has kept the firm at par with foreign service providers, adding that because the firm competes favourably with foreign firms, its customers are proud to do business with it. “We are not losing customers in anyway; instead, our customer base is increasing by the year,” Omoniyi said.

    “We have invested so much in this business to grow it to the level in which it is today. In 2001, when we started, we had only three branches, but today we have 46 operating branches in all the 36 states of the federation, including Abuja.

    “A company we promoted paid $25 million, which is more than N5 billion in the dispensation of our naira value just to acquire operating licence. The company needs at least, four times of that amount, which is about N20 billion to roll out services and that is a lot of money, and that is the kind of industry we are into. It is quite capital intensive,” he added.

    On the certification, he said: “The struggle to earn international certification is an unending one. About three years ago, we earned the certification for ISO 9001, which is a certification for quality management service. But today we are celebrating our ISO 20000 certification, which we recently earned, and which is an advanced certification to ISO 9001.

    “What this means is that as the business grows and expands, we will be getting more certifications and also consolidating on the ones we already have. The ISO 20000 is not a destination, but a journey because we are still eyeing more certifications like ISO 27000, ISO 28300 and many more that will still come up.

    “The truth is that we must continually improve on previous certifications because the British Standard Institute, which offers the certifications, will continually carry out audit surveillance on previous certifications to find out if the holders of such certifications are operating in conformity with the standards of the certifications.”

  • ‘Why $26.45m spectrum licence dormant’

    About a year after it beat national operator, Globacom, to clinch the 2.3gigahertz (GHz) spectrum, its winners, Bitflux is yet to put the spectrum into use.

    According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the spectrum would allow the firm to offer wholesale ‘wired’ broadband services to complement the capacity being  provided by optic fibre cables and allow the achievement of five-fold target, from current 6.2 per cent,  of broadband penetration set by the Federal Government.

    The Managing Director of VDT Communications, Mr. Biodun Omoniyi, who led Bitflux’s team to the 2.3GHz spectrum auction in Abuja, has said the firm went back to the drawing board to restrategise and rework its business model in order not to make mistakes.

    Speaking on the sideline during the rebranding of the corporate logo of VDT with The Nation in Lagos, Omoniyi said the firm is aware that stakeholders in the industry are eagerly looking forward to seeing Bitflux put the licence to use, adding that all loose ends have been tightened and services would go live from the spectrum.

    He said: “I appreciate the expectation and goodwill of all over this and the expectations that we need to put the licence to use. But the truth is that with respect to that particular project, everything is going very smoothly. Shortly after we won the licence, we went back to the drawing board to relook and restrategise our business plan to make those services available.

    “This is because we don’t want to do things haphazardly. It is important to plan and follow the plan diligently, but what I can assure you is that the Bitflux project is going on very well. We will come out in January. An award has already been made to a vendor and it is a 90-day delivery project. “Again, we have several vendors with so many competing technologies and solutions so we have to hire consultants so that we can actually deliver the best to Nigerians.”

    He said the roll-out of services will start with the three major cities of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, adding that VDT will also be actively involved as it would now become a retailer getting capacity from Bitflux which is a wholesaler.

    He said: “What we are expecting is that we are going to launch in three cities of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja with broadband services. You know Bitflux itself is wholesaler, so we are not going to be advertising to the general public. So part of what we are doing today is preparatory to selling the Bitflux product to those markets. Am sure you have people say we shall be in your house, we are not there yet but we will get there. Bitflux is a wholesaler, it will sell to VDT.”

    Speaking after the auction that produced Bitflux as winners, NCC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Eugene Juwah said the electronically powered process 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.

    The second round produced Bitflux offering $23,251,000 while Globacom upped the game by offering to pay $23, 50,001milliom

    Omoniyi had congratulated the NCC for its open, fair and transparent process. He had also congratulated big brother, Globacom, for being magnanimous even in defeat because, according to him, “nobody can put his head down to fight with the Bull.”

  • NCC braces for spectrum auction

    NCC braces for spectrum auction

    •’Low participation not our doing’

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has started a process that will lead to the issuance of another spectrum license to operators in the country pursuant to Federal Government’s national broadband plan.

    The Commission also absolved itself of any blame for the dismal participation of operators at the last auction in Abuja, arguing that its responsibility was to provide the level playing field for all participants while the decision of who participated or did not was purely that of the investors.

    Its Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo who spoke with The Nation on the sideline of a forum in Lagos said the NCC has started another process that will see another auctioning of spectrum in the 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) band to complement the one issued earlier in the year in which Bitflux, a relatively unknown IT firm beat Globacom to clinch the license.

    He said: “Participation at the last bid round for spectrum was very low because people knew that this particular one is coming. This is a question of choice and it is purely a business decision of the organisation. You have of two options and you ask yourself- Should I go for this one? if I go for this one am I going to have enough money to participate at the next one when it comes? Or should I just wait for this one because they don’t deliver the same kind of value? The 2.3GHz is for bulk that is wholesale. This one coming soon is different. So the point is that this one is different and people did their business plan and looked at the numbers. If the numbers added up for them to go ahead, they will go but if the numbers do not add up, they will keep their funds.”

    “Ours is to create a level playing field for the investors while the investors will make their investment decision of whether to invest or not. Some important thing is that some level playing field has been created. Twenty-seven companies indicated interest when we did the last one in Abuja but only two got to the final stage. The other people that dropped by the way said it was based on their business plan.”

    Ojobo said the number of times the regulator auction spectrum is a function of the availability of its availability, adding that as the nation prepares for the analogue switch off next year, more frequencies would be vacated by the broadcast industry for telecommunication. He said ubiquitous availability of broadband itself is a function of the availability of spectrum.

    He said: “The issue of broadband is about spectrum because there are areas of Nigeria that it will be very difficult to take optic fibre cable. In places such as that, we will use wireless to bridge the gap because optic fibre cable is wired. So, the 2.6 GHz that NCC is preparing to auction will deliver wireless services. Then remember that preparations are also in top gear to license infrastructure providers (Infracos) to complement the efforts. Seven companies will be licensed one in each of the six geo-political zones of the country while one will serve Lagos. Already, the process to do the first phase of licensing is on and we are hoping it will be concluded before the year runs out.”

  • Telcos urge NCC to create spectrum market

    Telcos urge NCC to create spectrum market

    elecoms firms have urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to create a spectrum market where operators could buy and sell the scarce airwaves resource.

    Its umbrella body, the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), argued that since it is the practice in other climes, the NCC should look into the option as it will assist the agency in its pursuit of universal access goal.

    Its President, Lanre Ajayi, said before the regulator puts a cap on  the auctioning of spectrum in the 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) band or allow a single operator have it all, it should first consider giving freedom to operators to have a spectrum market.

    According to him, the matter has been agitating the minds of operators for a long time as the licensing guidelines of the regulator constrained this from happening.

    He said: “Before we can put in a cap or allow someone to have everything, there is one important thing that we will need to do. There is something that has been missing in the industry for a while that people are already asking for and I think the NCC should start thinking about. It is something like a spectrum market. If I have a spectrum today and I buy based on certain business plan and for some strange reason, my plans are not working as I already scheduled, I may choose to sell my spectrum to someone else.

    “Today, that is not possible by the provision of licence document. People are now asking for such leverage, for such market to be created, the spectrum market where I should be able to sell my spectrum to an operator that is ready to deploy immediately with it. If I have a national spectrum and I will be able to deploy to Lagos, Abuja , Port Harcourt and my spectrum covers Sokoto, Bornu, and there is someone in Bornu State that is willing to use this spectrum to deploy service, why can’t  I sell that my spectrum to him?

    “I could sell to someone in Bornu even at a premium. But now you have constrained the operators through the licence regulation that they cannot do that. I think that constraint should be removed; a spectrum market should be created.

    “This is happening in some markets or other countries. So, if that is available, then we may allow an operator o buy the whole 2.6GHz spectrum with the hope that if he is not able to deploy today, he could sell it some other time. If that is not in place, there will certainly not be (people holding licences without deploying them to use for a long time).

    Director, Spectrum Administration at NCC, Austin Nwaulune, promised that the regulator would look at the “spectrum trading option” being proposed by ATCON, adding that speculative buying of spectrum licences is one of the things that holding back the industry.

    “ATCON is advocating spectrum trading. That is something different. We are also looking at that too.  In Nigeria, we are very good at speculation and that has hindered it so far. So, until we determine how we do it, .it is not a way yet but we are looking at all the options,” Nwaulume said.