Tag: NCC

Be mindful of the law, Danbatta urges Social Media users

…says NCC is technologically neutral

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has called on all Nigerians “to take advantage of the social media platforms to exchange information and participate in the political, social and economic processes of our country in ways that promote peace and enable us to build a more united and prosperous nation”.

Danbatta stated this today in Lagos through Tony Ojobo, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, who represented him at the maiden edition of CKN News Annual Public Lecture titled: The Role of the Social Media in the Socio-Economic and Political Development of Nigeria.

Danbatta who delivered the keynote address at the event said NCC is technologically neutral in its regulatory role and will not regulate social media use, but The Cybercrimes Act 2015 already defines offences associated with social media use and stipulates punishments for breaches.

He therefore advised all citizens to be mindful of the law in their use of social media networks.

The EVC’s voice was amplified by the Guest Lecturer, HE, Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, who recalled numerous anecdotal evidences using personal examples to outline the bad side of the social media use in Nigeria, even as Amaechi praised experienced journalists who now run online media platforms for playing by the rules.

At the highly participatory event, also attended by Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Danbatta told the audience that NCC has auctioned several data frequencies and re-farmed others to ensure that Nigerians continue to have access to data to participate actively in the digital economy and sustain the exponential social, economic and political gains that the social media and the Internet has facilitated for our society.

Danbatta thus promised that the Management of NCC will to continue to engage all stakeholders in the telecom industry – central among which is the consumer – in order to improve the quality of regulation by NCC and to enhance the quality of consumer experience.

June 13, 2017
Our objective is to empower the consumer – Danbatta

Professor Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Management of the Commission declared 2017 as Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer to deepen stakeholder engagement in order to enhance the quality of consumer experience, and to empower the consumer through information and education.

“It is consistent with our recognition of the importance of the Consumer in the telecom industry,” Danbatta emphasized yesterday in Niger state as Suleja hosts NCC Consumer Conversation.

The Consumer Conversation is a programme in the framework of the Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer campaigns essentially implemented by the Commission’s Department of Zonal Operations.

The Campaigns’ strategic initiatives focus on consumer activation of the Do-Not-Disturb Code 2442 to stop unsolicited SMS from operators.

In this instance, Danbatta explained that “a telecom consumer who does not wish to receive unsolicited messages from his service provider should simply text STOP to the short code 2442”.

He advised that “Where a consumer wishes to receive promotional messages on specific issues, the Consumer should send HELP to 2442 to choose his preference(s) from the options available”.

Other initiatives include consumers’ utilization of the NCC Toll Free Line 622 to report complaints relating to any unresolved issues which they had earlier reported to their service providers.

The EVC explained that the Commission also designed the Campaigns to create conversations around its activities, particularly its efforts to continually improve the Quality of Service (QoS); and to educate consumers and all stakeholders about Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) radiation.

“The Nigerian Communications Commission has repeatedly stated the position of studies on EMF, including those conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“None of the studies has clearly established a correlation between the type and levels of radiation in telecoms operation (especially telecom masts) and human health,” the NCC boss stated.

He expressed NCC’s gratitude to the consumers and other participants for their presence and resourceful contributions to the success of the Conversation.

Danbatta was represented by NCC’s Head of Zonal Operations, Helen Obi at the event.

June 9, 2017
Senate condemns telecoms operators inefficiency, urges NCC invoke the law

The Nigerian Senate has condemned in strong terms the unwholesome practices by telecoms operators, and urged the Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC) to invoke appropriate provisions of the law to protect Nigerian consumers from such practices.

Senate President Bukola Saraki speaking in Abuja said unwholesome practices especially that which have to do with dropped calls in the country have cost Nigerians billions of Naira.

“This is unacceptable!” said the Senate President.

Although telecommunications operators have gradually become an integral part of the Nigerian economy and a tool in the social-economic life of Nigerians, millions of subscribers continue to complain about an increasing rate of dropped calls; voice quality problems; and not being able to control their bundle usages, which oftentimes leads to the phone companies automatically switching their services to pricier airtime options.

“In this regard, the Senate condemned the inefficiency of GSM Network Operators in Nigeria,” Saraki stated.

The Senate hitherto passed a motion on the increasing rate of dropped calls and other unwholesome practices by telecommunications network operators in Nigeria and urged the NCC to invoke the appropriate provisions of the law to protect telecoms consumers.

He also called on all relevant agencies of government to carry out a thorough investigation on the causes of dropped calls in order to improve the experience of Nigerian customers.

Meanwhile, the NCC had declared “state of emergency” on Quality of Service in the telecoms sector, and promised service improvement.

June 7, 2017
Broadband: ICT stakeholders call for National Fibre provider

Stakeholders in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector have called for a National Broadband Fibre provider to further deepen broadband penetration in the country.

The stakeholders made the call at the Broadband Summit 2017 organized by BusinessDay Media Ltd in Lagos on Friday.

The Chief Executive Officer of Spectranet, Mr David Venn said that there was the need for the National Broadband Fibre provider so that Nigerians would benefit from the broadband revolution.

Venn said that voice calls through mobile phone had changed everything but the next phase was broadband.

He said that broadband would have greater impact on the lives of Nigerians, hence the need to ensure it got to every part of the country.

According to him, the challenges hindering broadband penetration should be addressed.

“Nigeria needs a National Broadband Fibre provider. There is need for carriers to be able to get broadband to the hinterlands.

“The cost of international bandwidth has changed demand for broadband in the last two years.

“The Nigerian Communications Commission must sanitise the sector of anti-competitive issues,” he said.

The Managing Director of Vodacom Business Nigeria, Mr Lanre Kolade said that the economy was biting hard on all the operators.

Kolade said that the Tier II Telecommunications operators were struggling to survive.

He said that there was need for a level playing field as such would stop anti-competition in the sector.

According to him, the Tier I operators cannot be everywhere hence, the need for the smaller operators to go to the smaller areas and deploy business strategies that will work.

“For this to happen, anti-competition should be addressed.

“To deepen broadband penetration, there should be data centres across the country so that the rate at which our traffic goes outside Nigeria will reduce,” he said.

The Chief Transformation Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr Bayo Adekanmbi, said that there was high demand of broadband by Nigerians; but no adequate infrastructure to deliver high speed internet to them.

Adekanmbi said that the nature of broadband was holistically different as it was more of a long term project as the issue of cost was critical.

He said that infrastructure to deliver broadband should not be taxed; to ensure delivery to last mile at an affordable cost.

The Chief Executive Officer of Ntel, Mr Kamar Abass said that to deepen broadband penetration, the industry should consider infrastructure sharing as active engagement on it was still lacking.

Abass said that there was the need for more spectrums to deliver broadband to Nigeria.

The Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Ms Funke Opeke said that broadband was an enabler of economic growth.

Opeke however said that recession had changed the dynamics of the broadband industry.

She said that the industry depended on importation of its infrastructure and there had been the challenge of foreign exchange.

According to her, the country must pull itself out of oil dependency and broadband is the step toward economy recovery.

“There is need to know we can create more power houses like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba, among other to develop the economy,” she said.

June 3, 2017
Nigerian Guild of Editors assures NCC amiable media pally

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has assured the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) amiable media pally, stressing that the body is ready to collaborate the telecoms regulatory agency to bring progress to telecoms in Nigeria.

The President of the NGE, Funke Egbemode, made the assurance at a Special Media Interaction organized by the NCC at the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Ikeja, Lagos state, Nigeria.

R-L: Mr. Mideno Bayagbon, Publisher, TheNewsGuru; NCC EVC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, NCC EC, Stakeholders Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, and NCC Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo

The Publisher of TheNewsGuru, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon, who represented the NGE president at the event said, “We spread the hands of fellowship to you, and we assure you that in everything that will bring progress to telecoms in Nigeria, we will support you”.

The NCC had tagged one of its town hall meetings “Information and Education as Catalysts for Consumer protection,” and stressed at the Special Media Interaction that the NGE has a role to play in ensuring that telecoms consumers are better informed.

Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, in his speech, had called on the Guild of Editors to partner with the Commission for a better informed telecom consumer, saying the media, both print and electronic, are as important as the job NCC is doing.

Present at the event are a host of NCC executives including Mr. Tony Ojobo, Director Public Affairs; Mr. Sunday Dare, Executive Commissioner Stakeholders Management; and Mrs. Funlola Akinyode, Director Licensing and Authorization.

Also present at the event are a host of media chiefs including the Group Managing Editor of TheNewsGuru, Mr. Jewell Dafinone.

May 17, 2017
NCC orders telecoms operators to stop automatic renewal of services

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has advised telecoms operators to stop the automatic renewal of services Nigerian telecoms consumers subscribed to on their network.

This the regulatory agency said is to forestall operators from arbitrarily charging telecoms subscribers.

The NCC Director in charge of Consumer Affairs Bureau, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano made this known on Tuesday while fielding questions from journalists at NCC’s Special Media Interaction held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja Lagos.

The NCC Director ascribed the arbitrary charges of consumers account to automatic renewal of services and to some other factors.

“In our own investigation, what we discovered that is responsible for undue deductions from consumers account are mainly linked to the automatic renewal of data by consumers, the famous unsolicited text messages, and the imposition of subscription of some Value Added Services,” the Consumer Affairs Bureau Boss said.

The regulatory agency said it is aware of the challenges being faced by Nigerians in the telecoms sector, and warned that it will not hesitate to impose stiffer sanctions against erring operators.

The NCC Director Maikano, had in a town hall meeting in Oye, Ekiti state, said, “We have to protect consumers from market exploitation and empower them to make rational and informed decision when making their choices of services”.

“The actions we have taken are in two folds:

“We issued a directive to all the operators that no automatic renewal of data. If the data subscription expires, the consumer stays without data, until he/she subscribes it.

“In addition, the unsolicited text messages are sources of depletion of consumers account, and we have come up with Do Not Disturb (DND)” that consumers can activate to stop unsolicited text messages,” Director Maikano said.

May 17, 2017
NCC laments telecoms poor quality of service, promises improvement

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has promised Nigerian telecoms consumer improved telecommunications services while lamenting the deterioration of Quality of Service (QoS) in the first quarter of the year 2017.

“We have seen a deterioration of quality of service across all operators,” NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, noted at a Special Media Interaction held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja Lagos yesterday.

NCC EVC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta assures of improved QoS

TheNewsGuru recalls the Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu had in January, while inaugurating the board of the NCC, charged the Commission to deliver on QoS. Consequently, the NCC dedicated the year 2017 to the protection of the Nigerian telecom consumer

“I can be able to state here categorically in terms of QoS that I know which operators are doing well, fairly well and those that are not doing well at all,” the EVC NCC said, adding: “But, we are waiting for the analysis of the QoS key performance index (KPI)”.

“The industry average for call drop rate is 1.37 percent while it is supposed to be 1 percent. The call success rate is 90 percent, 8 percentage short of the specified standard,” the EVC further stated.

He said, “We intend to escalate the issue to the next level. When we engage the consultants maybe this month, we intend to showcase that QoS has improved slightly with evidence because we have the figures but the QoS is still below the standard set up by the NCC. If we do not see any improvement, then, we can resolve to sanctions”.

“We may not reach the stipulated standard in a month or two but the compliance streak is to further compel telecoms operators to improve on QoS,” he added.

The NCC, however, noted that challenges of broadband penetration in Nigeria need be surmounted before a total QoS can be guaranteed.

He outlined the major challenges facing broadband penetration in Nigeria to include right of way, vandalization of telecoms infrastructure, power supply and foreign exchange.

He however noted that arrangements are underway to making foreign exchange available for telecoms operators.

May 17, 2017
NCC says telecoms masts emit non-ionizing radiation, compares emission to TV signals

…as committee meets for the first time for telecoms masts erection approval

In other to instill confidence on the Nigerian populace that telecoms masts pose no health hazard, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said telecoms masts do no emit ionizing radiation, and compared the emission of masts and towers to television signals.

“Every time we get complaints from masts and towers, it not about probably only the radiation from the antennas; they also talk about generator vibration, emission from generator, diesel spills from generators, and the distance from the house,” said NCC Head, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Mr. Efosa Idehen.

The compliance monitoring and enforcement head said that before 2009 when the guidelines for masts and towers came into existence, there was really no specification for distance, so people then were asking for mast to be brought to their locations because it enables access.

“By 2009 we developed the technical standard for masts and towers, and it specified everything in erecting masts and towers in the telecoms industry and it has taken care of all the issues.

“Any mast that falls, probably did not meet the standard, and when that happens, the few times it has happened, we actually got to the operators to ask why and actually audited the system to find out what happened and then took actions against those operators,” said Mr. Efosa.

Mr. Efosa further stated that when it comes to emission, the emissions from the antennas of telecoms are actually non-ionizing. “That is, they do not interact with human cells,” he said.

“We had a particular example when someone took an x-ray equipment to go and measure the radiation from masts and towers.

“Of course, x-ray equipments will pick up the ionizing radiations that are within the environment, and they ascribed that to the masts and towers.

“When this happened, we had to call experts from GSMA and from every other parts of the world to come and educate and that was when we started this EMF workshops which we are taking round the whole country,” Mr. Efosa further stated.

“From all research that we have read and the experts have also spoken about, says that as of today, there are no concrete evidence that radiations from masts and towers are harmful to man,” he added.

Speaking on the distance between telecoms masts and building, Mr. Efosa said, NCC technical guidelines stated 5 meters, and NESDRA stated 10 meters when they did their enforcement regulations in 2010.

“In 2014, we adopted the NESDRA standard, which is 10 meters to allay the fears of Nigerians,” not because the masts and towers are harmful, he said.

He added that “Anywhere there needs to be a mast because there is no service in that place, the first thing is to say, can you get 10 meters; if you cant get 10 meters, do you have more than 5 meters?” and said “if there is more than 5 meters, a committee was agreed, which the inaugural meeting would be on the 25th of this month. That committee will meet, access and say okay, we grant that base station this distance from the house”.

For vibrating generators, we ask the operators to remove them, and for emission from generators, we ask the operators to replace the generators, said Mr Efosa, adding that “This we do to make sure that there is comfort for people that are living close to base stations”.

On the limits of radiation, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta added that if you stand being harmed by signals coming from television sets, then you stand being harmed by signals coming from telecoms masts.

May 17, 2017
Etisalat, what happens next? NCC narrates moves to salvage firm

…says worse is over for Etisalat

The drama surrounding Etisalat has been put into perspective as the Nigerian Communications Commission yesterday at the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria narrated the moves so far to salvage the telecoms firm.

TheNewsGuru recalls the Etisalat saga started in March, with a report that the telecoms firm is having financial problems, and an imminent takeover of it by a consortium of 12 banks.

“The worse is over for Etisalat,” said Mr. Sunday Dare, NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management.

Executive Commissioner Dare said the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC made a very strong case for Etisalat at a meeting with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in Lagos, at which the management of Etisalat, and representative of the 12 banks were invited.

“It was at the meeting the CBN Governor clearly was able to plead with the banks to hold on… also spoke with the management of Etisalat to do something quickly about meeting their obligations, particularly servicing the interest of the loan.

“It was agreed at that meeting that another meeting should be convened on March 30th when the banks will present a restructuring plan of the loan,” Dare said.

Dare further stated that “Prior to that Etisalat had a meeting with shareholders and actually presented a plan, but that plan needs to be reworked, and between the end of March and the entire period of April, that negotiation continued”.

He revealed that the NCC on its part decided to write not just the management of Etisalat but also the initial holders, Mubadala Development Company (MDC) that has the control shares in Etisalat, that there was a need to call a shareholder meeting, and consider the need to inject fund into Etisalat as quickly as possible.

“The resultant effect of that letter was the meeting we had yesterday when the Mubadala Group, the largest shareholder, actually visited the NCC yesterday in Abuja; and that meeting is the first part of a four-part meeting,” Dare said, adding: “…the first part with the NCC, the second part with the CBN Governor held yesterday in the afternoon; we are still waiting for the full details of the outcome of that meeting”.

He said the next meeting would be with the consortium of banks based on the restructuring plan that is being presented to the CBN, and thereafter, the meeting of NCC, CBN the consortium of banks and Etisalat.

“It is at that point that, probably before the end of this week or early next week, that we would hear officially what the final agreement.

“We do believe strongly that haven come this far, Etisalat has promised to meet its obligations; the timeline would be reworked and an agreement would be reached.

“And in that light, we can say for certain that 23 million consumers who subscribe to Etisalat services — voice, data, etc — do not have to worry for long because I think the worse is over for Etisalat,” he said.

Etisalat has about $2 million investment in Nigeria, has about $20 billion world.

We just have to wait for the outcome of the meetings, and everything else will become official, Dare concluded.

May 17, 2017
Data new price floor regime saga not over yet, says NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the battle over the new price floor regime for data is not won yet.

Speaking at a Special Media Interaction event held at the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria, the NCC Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano said the new price floor regime for data is essentially to provide a level playing field for all operators in the telecoms space, and to encourage small operators and new entrants to acquire market share and operate profitably just so they do not face insolvency.

TheNewsGuru reports the NCC announced the intention to establish the new price floor regime for data in November last year; but the intention was halted by the intervention of the Nigerian Senate.

“Many believe that the Senate must have misread the lines when it asked the regulator to suspend the introduction of the price floor regime.

“The Senate and the NCC are in the public interest. The only difference is that whereas the Senate acted for the immediate satisfaction of the telecoms consumer, the regulator from its commanding height as the driver of the industry acted for the good of the consumer in the long run.

“Besides, the action of the regulators is not just in the interest of the telecoms consumer but also in the interest of the nation,” an article titled “2017: Year of the Telecom Consumer” in the publication of the NCC, The Communicator, read.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, had told the Senate Committee on Communication that the intervention of the regulatory agency was not designed to undermine the consumers, neither was it also intended to undermine the operators but to find a common ground whereby all stakeholders (operators and consumers) would enjoy the gains of participatory regulation which the regulator is noted for.

“We wanted to protect the Nigerian consumer from unhealthy price war in what may lead to a monopoly that may lead us to the days of NITEL.

“We did not increase any price but merely provided a regulatory standard to protect small operators,” the EVC of the NCC said.

The NCC said, however, that small operators and new entrants are exempted from the new data price floor regime. The NCC defined small operators to mean any operator with less than 7.5 percent of the market share, and defined new entrants as any operator that has operated for less than three years in the Nigerian market.

Meanwhile, telecoms services provider, Globacom Nigeria, has already re-capitalized its data prices. 12GIG that previously goes for N3,000.00 has been reduced to 6GIG for the same amount. All other of GLO data plans, both the 3G and 4G data plans were affected as well.

May 17, 2017