On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, following deliberations by the Board of the NCC, at its special board meeting, lifted the suspension placed on Spectrum Trading.
Spectrum is a scarce resource that could potentially limit broadband coverage and speed if inefficiently manage. The current Spectrum Trading guidelines were developed in 2018 after industry-wide consultations.
This permits that the Spectrum resource should be traded on the Secondary Market through Transfer, Sharing or Leasing (TSL) upon satisfying stipulated regulatory conditions.
The meeting was after a four month period of STG’s inactivity. Earlier on, in September of 2019, the Board of the Commission had considered lifting the suspension on Spectrum Trading, it later released a public notice signed by its Director Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, that read thus:
“The Board was satisfied that given the state of the consultation, it was possible to lift the suspension placed on the STG pending the conclusion of the review.
Accordingly, the board resolved to lift the suspension of the STG be lifted and that relevant stakeholders continue to operate the STG while a revised STG is finalised in consultation with the industry,” the public notice added.
In a statement issued on May 27, 2020, The Commission had announced the suspension of STG 2018 for the Nigerian telecommunications industry.
It then informed all licensed telecom operators, prospective investors, industry stakeholders and the public of the regulatory decision.
The board’s decision was an attempt not just to maintain the telecommunications dynamic, but to optimally utilise and enhance the benefits of Spectrum.
According to the Commission, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025 launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2020, requires that these guidelines be reviewed to ensure that inefficiently utilised Spectrum is fairly traded to facilitate rollout by other operators among others.
The guidelines will also help to address the need for ubiquitous broadband deployment to accelerate penetration and access according to the economic Agenda of the Federal Government
Featured Image: vanguardngr
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