In a recent interactive session with top media executives on Friday, September 4, 2020, Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) discussed how the Commission has driven the Strategic Vision Plan (The 8-Point Agenda).
According to the EVC, the 8-point agenda rested on a tripod of ‘A’s which include Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of service.
By a diligent implementation of each element in the agenda, there has been a significant and measurable improvement in digital access coupled with a deepened broadband penetration that has expanded Nigeria’s frontier for a digital economy.
Facilitating Broadband penetration
Prof. Danabatta noted that in 2015, Nigeria’s broadband penetration was less than 6%, however, there was an impressive 42.02% increase as at July 2020. Key policy initiative has led to this achievement in broadband penetration by NCC.
Some of these key initiatives include:
- increasing the number of licensed Infrastructure Companies (InfraCo) to six across the geo-political zones
- spectrum re-planning
- spectrum refarming
- spectrum auctions
- administrative spectrum assignments
NCC is currently in the process of concluding the six Infraco’s counterpart funding agreement to make sure that the complete rollout of broadband infrastructure on an Open Access Model (OAM) as this will ensure Point of Access in each of the 774 local governments Nigeria.
As of June 2020, the subscriber base is now 199,307,796, which indicates an increase in broadband penetration.
The percentage contribution to GDP in Q2 2020 stands at 14.2% while teledensity rose to 104.41.
The Commission is also working closely with the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competiveness Advisory Council (Critical Infrastructure Sub Committee) headed by Yemi Osibanjo GCON, Vice President of the country, on Broadband Penetration improvement.
Emphasising the importance of the telecoms sector to the economy, in June 2020, the Federal Government of Nigeria assigned telecoms facilities as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).
To this effect, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and all other security agencies have since been notified of President Buhari’s directive.
Improving Quality of Service
In 2015, when the EVC assumed office, the NCC gave top priority to Quality of Service, observing that two major factors (“technical” and “non-technical” ) were impacting its delivery. The Commission took crucial steps in addressing the issues through:
- Constitution of Industry working group on QoS
- Short codes and Multiple Taxation
- Deployment of QoS and Spectrum Tools
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
- Colocation Service Providers
The NCC formalised the adoption of 3G and 4G KPIs in 2018, as well as Collocation Service Providers (CSP), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their monitoring has since fully started.
Ever since the regulatory initiatives have been implemented, telecom operators have improved on the quality of service delivery to consumers.
Optimising usage and benefits of spectrum
In optimising the benefits and use of spectrum, a number of initiatives such as satellite infrastructure, infrastructure sharing and spectrum trading have been put in place to drive socio-economic development.
For instance, the transfer of the spectrum licence of 2X 10MHz in the 900MHz E-GSM Spectrum band from Intercellular Nigeria to Airtel networks Limited amounted to the sum of N8.9 billion.
The amount generated through this singular initiative has brought significant revenue to Government.
The NCC from 2015 to date has also remitted N362.34 billion to the Federal Government Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) through spectrum fees and operating surplus, which has helped to boost the revenue-generation drive of the current administration.
It is interesting to mention that all the initiatives above have helped the Commission in identifying potential frequency bands to be harmonized for 5G deployment, which include 26 GHz, 38GHz and 42GHz.
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