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Tag: NCC

  • NCC, INEC review committee report on 2019 election

    NCC, INEC review committee report on 2019 election

    Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) have met to review the outcome of the report of the joint committee set up early in the year on electronic transmission and collation of results.

    Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, after the meeting with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Thursday, described the forum “as a huge step toward entrenching free, fair and credible elections in the country’’.

    He said the joint committee set up seven months ago by the two agencies had worked hard to produce a document on the basis of which elections could be conducted in a manner conducive, credible and transparent.

    “This can only be done by leveraging the power of Information Communications Technology.

    “ So this is to bring to bear global best practices in the way and manner elections are being conducted all over the world,” he said.

    On his part, the INEC chairman expressed delight with the way NCC picked up the gauntlet thrown by the INEC and the joint committee.

    “When we started we were clear in our minds that we must challenge every national institution to contribute towards free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

    “We are happy that the NCC has risen to this challenge and we look forward to implementing these recommendations.

    “If there are other areas we need your collaborations we hope you will remain open to us to do so.

    “But we are very happy that one major national institution has been challenged and has risen to the challenge,” he said.

    In January, NCC and INEC, in a deal acclaimed to “have the potential of playing a major role in the outcome of future elections in the country reached an agreement on the electronic transmission of results in the 2019 general elections’’.

    The meeting had in attendance Mr Ubale Maska , Executive Commissioner Technical Services (EC-TS) of NCC, , national commissioners of INEC and senior managers of the two agencies.

     

  • Nigeria reaches broadband penetration target

    The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, said that Nigeria’s broadband penetration, according to the ITU/UNESCO policy forum, is currently at 22%, indicating that the minimum target to reach 20% by 2017 was met.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the EVC, at a session with journalists recently, explained that the minimum and maximum targets set were 20% and 30% respectively.

    Professor Danbatta further stated that the International Telecommunications Union/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization policy forum would release the latest broadband penetration figures by September 2018.

    “Nigeria’s broadband penetration was between 4 to 6% in 2013 when the target was set and the NCC has since, licensed infrastructure companies (Infracos) to deploy fibre network in various regions of the country.

    “There is an initiative under the office of the Vice President, but being driven by some licensees of the NCC to deploy 18000km of fibre infrastructure.

    “The whole idea is to add 18,000km of fibre in addition to the 38,000km of fibre that we have already on the ground, to make it 56,000km,” he said.

    He also stated that a subsidy of around Three Billion Naira (N3b) had been budgeted to be paid piecemeal to the infrastructure companies to deploy the fibre, stressing “This payment will be predicated on milestones by the licensees”.

    The challenges to broadband penetration in Nigeria include multiple taxation and Right of Way issues, most of which the NCC is working very hard to address.

    The Commission has had very fruitful talks with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) in this regard, Danbatta stated.

    The EVC also reiterated NCC’s commitment to stopping illegal call masking operations in Nigeria.

    “We have discovered that call masking is being perpetrated with small movable devices called SIM boxes and we are in the process of choosing the best from a list of technology solutions used in other countries, to block the devices, track and apprehend the culprits”, he said.

     

  • Why Teleology is yet to take over 9mobile

    Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, has alluded reasons Teleology is yet to take over 9mobile.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Prof. Danbatta gave reasons for the delay in the sale of 9mobile to Teleology at a session with journalists recently.

    Speaking on the sale of 9mobile to Teleology, the EVC stated that a 15.3 billion naira debt owed the NCC and Federal Government by 9mobile had stalled the sale, but that about half had been paid and the technical evaluation and due diligence on the sale have almost been concluded.

    “9mobile owed N12b Annual Operating Levies (AOL) for two years, numbering fees of N1b and spectrum fees of N2.3b and on paying the spectrum fees, half of the AOL and half of the numbering fees, the NCC transmitted a letter of ‘No Objection’ to allow the transfer of shares to United Capital from Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), the original owners of Etisalat Nigeria.

    “As soon as they meet the next conditions and the technical evaluation of Teleology is concluded, we will again transmit the final approval letter of ‘No Rejection’ for transfer of shares from United Capital to Teleology,” he said.

     

  • 2019: Again NCC, INEC meet over general elections

    2019: Again NCC, INEC meet over general elections

    Efforts toward free, fair and credible elections next year have received another major boost yesterday, as the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) met to review the outcome of the report of the joint committee they set up early this year on electronic transmission and collation of results.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC who spoke after the meeting, which had in attendance the INEC boss, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the Executive Commissioner Technical Services (EC-TS) of the NCC, Engr Ubale Maska, national commissioners of the electoral body and top echelon staff of both the two agencies, described it as a huge step toward entrenching free, fair and credible elections in the country.

    “Remember this joint committee was set up 7 months ago. They’ve worked hard, and the whole idea was to produce a document on the basis of which elections can be conducted in a manner that’s conducive, credible, and of course, transparent. This can only be done by leveraging the power of Information Communications Technology. So this is to bring to bear global best practices in the way and manner elections are being conducted all over the world,” he stated.

    Earlier, Yakubu had expressed his delight with the way the Prof Danbatta-led NCC picked up the gauntlet thrown by the INEC as well as the efforts of the joint committee of the two organizations’

    “When we started we were clear in our minds that we must challenge every national institution to contribute towards free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria. We are happy that the NCC has risen to this challenge.

    “And we look forward to implementing these recommendations. If there are other areas we need your collaborations we hope you will remain open to us to do so. But we are very happy that one major national institution has been challenged and has risen to the challenge,” he noted.

    It could be recalled that in January this year, the NCC and INEC, in a deal acclaimed to have the potential of playing a major role in the outcome of future elections in the country reached an agreement on the electronic transmission of results in the 2019 general election.

     

  • NCC to license telecoms operators to host lotteries on networks

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it will soon license telecom companies to host lotteries on their networks.

    Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, said this during the review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NCC and National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) on Monday in Abuja.

    “Very soon we are going to license our telecomunicators to host lotteries on telecom networks and because the network are regulated by the NCC, we need to be involved.

    “That is why the NCC has to be involved from the very beginning to ensure that our operators who will be participating in hosting the lottery services have the capacity to do so.

    “The service you are about to introduce will add additional burden to the network and the NCC is always concerned that any burden on the telecommunication’s infrastructure may conspire to degrade quality of service.

    “We are very much concerned that this does not happen. Our operators that will be participating in your lotteries have the capacity to host this additional very important service because of the empowerment it will be bringing in the country.

    “What you are doing rhymes in two places of the eight-point agenda of the NCC in the area of strategic collaboration and partnership with other agencies of government and in the area of protecting and empowering the consumer,” he said.

    Danbatta said the hosting of the lottery in the telecom network would empower the Nigerian telecommunication service consumers who may be among the many that would participate in the lottery.

    He said NLRC and NCC have an existing Memorandum of Understanding since 2011 which was due for review every four years.

    “The whole idea is to cooperate in order to provide the environment with facilities so to speak for the lottery commission to host lotteries in the country and because lotteries all over the world are electronically driven,’’ he said.

    Earlier, the Director-General of NLRC, Mr Lanre Gbajabiamila, said the signing of the MoU between the two commissions would regulate telecommunications aspect of lottery in Nigeria.

    “We had committees set up and worked together with NCC to make sure that everything is in place.

    “We have also met with the operators to have a better understanding and to let them know the dos and don’ts of what we need to have in place.

    “ I believe with this it will be easy for all the stakeholders involved to have the ease of doing business especially when it comes to lottery and gaming industry.

     

  • Nigeria Internet users record decrease

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Internet users in the country decreased to 102,805,122 million in June from the 103,152,726 million recorded in May.

    The NCC made this disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for June 2018 on its website on in Abuja.

    The data showed a decrease 347,604 subscribers in the country.

    The data showed a decrease with the figure of 347,604 subscribers in the country.

    NCC said Airtel gained more internet subscribers during the month under review, while MTN, 9Mobile and Globalcom were the big losers.

    The breakdown revealed that Airtel gained 162,711 new internet users, increasing subscription to its services from 26,548,338 million in May to 26, 711,049 in June.

    It said MTN lost 253,612 internet users in June amounting to 38, 937,473 as against 39,191,085 recorded in May.

    It said that Globacom also lost 36,187 internet users decreasing its subscription to 26, 571,254 in June from 26,607,441 recorded in May.

    It said 9mobile lost 222,516 internet users in June decreasing its subscription to 10,585,346 as against 10,807,862 recorded in May.

     

  • Telecoms: Active mobile lines hit 162.3 million

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says active mobile telephone lines in Nigeria have increased to 162.30 million in June.

    NCC said in the monthly Subscribers Operator Data posted on its website on Tuesday that the mobile lines figure at the end of June was 162.30, adding that it rose from 162.07 million recorded in May.

    With 162,307,346 lines in June and 162,075, 116 in May, the increase in the number of lines was 232,230.

    However, the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) for active mobile lines had 217,566 users in June, same as in May.

    The report said the number of fixed wired/wireless for active mobile lines in June was 140,627 compared to May, which had 137,010 lines, indicating an increase of 3,617 lines.

    According to NCC, the number of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) was 97,941 in June compared to the 93,080 recorded in May, an increase of 4,861.

    It also revealed that Teledensity in June rose to 116.26 as against 116.09 in May recording an increase of 0.17.

    Teledensity is the number of telephone connections for every 100 individuals living within an area and it varies widely across the country.

    NCC also said the number of connected mobile lines in June decreased to 239,339,812 from 240,259,751 in May, recording a decrease of 919,939.

    “The CDMA for connected lines for June was 3,586,095, the same figure with May,’’ the subscribers’ data revealed.

    The report said the number of fixed wired/wireless for connected lines in June was 350,644 compared to May which had 345,210 an increase of 5,434 lines.

    It also showed that the number of VOIP for connected lines in June was 642,734 as against 611,376 in May rising by 31,358 lines.

     

  • NCC to open up, assign other spectrum bands to telcos

    NCC to open up, assign other spectrum bands to telcos

    The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has said, given that spectrum is a critical mobile infrastructure, it will open up and assign other spectrum bands for telecoms service providers in the country.

    NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta, made this known, while also stressing that the Commission will open up and assign the other spectrum bands in an open and transparent manner.

    TheNewsGuru had earlier in a feature urged the telecoms regulatory commission of a greater need to tread with caution in order to avoid monopoly with the Visafone spectrum transfer to MTN Nigeria.

    This is given that the MTN/Visafone spectrum transfer has raised issues among telcos operators in the country.

    ALSO READ || Telecoms: NCC must avoid monopoly with Visafone spectrum transfer

    TheNewsGuru reports reports that 2.3GHz spectrum has been licensed for wholesale wireless last mile services.

    According to Danbatta, there are ongoing discussions with various levels of government to facilitate speed in processing permits, harmonisation of tax regimes and to ease the deployment of infrastructure, including streamlining right of way charges.

    He said that there were also limitations and access gaps in metro fibre deployment to nodes, neighbourhoods and last mile connection to homes and businesses, which the government needed to address.

    “Since spectrum is a critical mobile infrastructure, the commission will strive to provide the required frequency spectrum capacity.

    “The commission will facilitate the re-farming of existing spectrum held by operators to provide broadband services without impacting their quality of service delivery.

    “We will open up and assign other spectrum bands in an open and transparent manner,” he said.

    According to Danbatta, the availability of broadband infrastructure will unlock new opportunities and drive a second wave of growth in the telecoms industry and the economy.

    Meanwhile, speaking at ICT Watch Network Award Ceremony held on Friday in Lagos, Danbatta stated that broadband access is an important feature in communications infrastructure policy and should be treated as a key economic indicator.

    According to him, broadband deployment has a strong impact on GDP, employment and productivity in all economic sectors.

    “It can be seen all over the world that there is a higher economic growth in countries with more broadband penetration than countries with less broadband penetration.

    “Hence, governments and regulators worldwide are strongly in support and make every effort in promoting broadband deployment, in order to stimulate the development of the economy and the society.

    “The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) advocates that Broadband should be treated as an essential service like electricity and water, it is difficult to imagine life without water or electricity,” he said.

    Danbatta assured that the commission would continue to drive and support high speed broadband connectivity to end users through various initiatives.

    He said that initiatives such as licensing of InfraCos, on a regional basis, provide metropolitan fibre and wholesale transmission services on a non-discriminatory, open access and price regulated basis.

    The Executive Vice Chairman said the roadmap was to have fibre point of access in every Local Government Area in in the country within four years of the commencement of deployments in each geopolitical zone.

     

  • NCC tasks telecom operators on efficient usage of FOREX allocation

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has called on telecom operators to ensure efficient usage of FOREX allocation to prevent capital flight.

    NCC made the call at a meeting with operators on “Framework for Confirmation of Reasonableness of Service Requests’’ in Abuja on Tuesday, while deliberating on ways to overcome the challenges of FOREX allocation in the sector.

    Prof. Danbatta Umar, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC said that as telecom services increased, it was imperative to expand coverage and optimise network capabilities through network elements which often engaged overseas vendors.

    Danbatta was represented at the forum by Mr Bashir Idris, Head, Competition and Tarrifs Unit of the Policy Competition and Economic Analysis Department of NCC.

    He said that these services were priced by the overseas vendors in foreign currencies and Nigerian telecom operators were required to pay for such services in foreign currencies thereby creating significant demand for foreign exchange.

    “The CBN, in ensuring monetary and price stability and maintaining external reserves to safeguard the international value of the Nigerian currency, sought our assistance to address demand for foreign exchange by telecom industry.

    “By virtue of this collaboration, the NCC provides expert advice and vets invoices and international payments to overseas vendors by telecom companies in Nigeria in order to ensure efficient usage of the FOREX allocation.

    “This is for prevention of capital flight and round tripping amongst other things.

    “This ultimately led to the development of appropriate rules and procedures for the processing of confirmation of reasonableness of service request/application submitted by CBN to the commission on behalf of Nigerian telecom,’’ he said.

    Danbatta said that NCC in performing its role had observed instances of over-quoted invoices, double submissions, untenured contracts and demand notices not backed by required valid contract agreements.

    He recalled that similar Confirmation of Reasonableness of Service (CRS) were held in 2003, 2009, and 2013 where subsisting procedures were developed and updated to guide the payments of invisible trade transactions.

    Danbatta therefore called on all participants to contribute actively and constructively at the forum to help to enrich the CRS application process.

    Mr Bashir Idris, the Head, Competition and Tariffs Unit of NCC, said the forum was to present a revised guideline for processing reasonableness of service requests.

    “There are tangible and intangible assets being put together by operators, NCC is in charge of assessing the reasonableness of the pricing of the intangible assets like software.

    “It is collaboration between the NCC and CBN to prevent the capital flight and all manner of infringement on our foreign exchange reserves.

    “To make sure that whatever the operators are paying out to their vendors outside the country are actually what they should be paying out so that the country is not short changed.

    “Over time since 2003 when we started this exercise, new challenge came up and we reviewed the guidelines to address those challenges so as not to put any of the parties in a difficult situation in their operations,’’ he said.

    Idris said the forum was to help all stakeholders in the telecom industry on the way forward and tackle new challenges that had been noticed in the last couple of years.

    He said this would ultimately benefit the telecom consumers because it would bring about realistic pricing based on realistic costing.

     

  • 16,287 telecom subscribers changed network providers in June – NCC

    A total of 16,287 mobile telecommunications subscribers moved to other network providers in June, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

    The subscribers changed their service providers under the Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

    The commission made this known in its Incoming and Outgoing Porting Activities of Mobile Network Operators Report posted on its website.

    The NCC said that of the 16,287 porting activities in June, 8,142 were incoming, while 8,145 were outgoing.

    It noted that 13,203 subscribers ported within the networks in May, showing an increase of 3,084 in June.

    According to the commission, 2,474 subscribers moved from Airtel to other networks in June.

    The figure indicated an increase of 231 over the total of 2,243 Airtel customers who dropped the network in May.

    The commission said that 2,052 subscribers moved from Globacom in June, adding that there was an increase of 145 over 1,907 customers who left the network in May.

    It added that 2,103 customers of 9mobile ported to other networks in June – an increase of 519, when compared with 1,587 users who left the network in May.

    NCC said that MTN lost 1,516 customers through porting in June, an increase of 546 as against 970 customers who left in May.

    On the incoming table, 9mobile led by an additional 3,555 customers on its network in June.

    MTN Nigeria came second on the gainers’ list with 3,243 subscribers, while 911 subscribers moved to Airtel, and Globacom gained 433 customers.