TheNewsGuru

Tag: Telecoms

  • Telecoms subscribers welcome new SIM card registration

    Telecoms subscribers welcome new SIM card registration

    The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has described as a “welcome development” Federal Government’s lifting of ban on registration of new SIM cards.

    NATCOMS President, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday, said that the gesture would remove the hardship subscribers went through while the ban lasted.

    He advised subscribers to take advantage of the activation of new SIM card registration to ensure proper linkage to their National Identity Number(NIN).

    Ogunbanjo said that with the lifting of the ban, the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) students will be able to register for their exams with ease.

    “The lifting of ban on registration of new SIM is a good thing for telecoms subscribers and for the good of JAMB students, which will assist them register for NIN before writing their exams to ensure proper identification.

    “We are still appealing that the registration of NIN with SIM should be extended to Dec 31 to enable every subscriber register and have their documents linked up appropriately.

    “This will aid to stop illegal use of unregistered SIM,” the NATCOMS President said.

    He, however, warned subscribers against patronising and purchasing unregistered SIM cards, which might have been used for fraudulent activity.

    NAN reports that the Federal Government suspended registration of new SIM card in December 2020 and lifted the ban with effect from April 19.

  • For Telecoms, a place in the sun for alarmists, Okoh Aihe

    For Telecoms, a place in the sun for alarmists, Okoh Aihe

    Okoh Aihe

    There was suppressed excitement across the land last week. The country’s economy, dealt a massive blow into depression by COVID-19, suddenly witnessed a renaissance, a stirring out of that dazed stupor into some place under the sun, making some of us to learn how to smile again.

    The news was so sudden that some people didn’t know how to believe it and are only now trying to respond in a way to encourage the economic minders to do even more. Because the possibility is that if we mistake these tiny ripples of life to be strong signs of real recovering, there is the more likelihood that we go into a more serious one as we often don’t know how to dance our way out of trouble but instead force ourselves down the slippery slope like somebody courting disaster.

    This is why the people walk about wearing forlornness as garment. The economy is dreary. Life is cruel and the danger which stalks us can break into death any time.

    Therefore, the announcement that Nigeria witnessed 0.11% in Q4’2020 sounded more like music to the ears although Nigerians are not about breaking into a dance. They have been so disappointed over the years, taking promises in their face value to the effect that they are unable to seek forgiveness for attracting this moment of hazardous folly upon themselves. But good news is good news and even in its infinitesimal manifestation in our land, we must manage a smile with suspicious restraints.

    The smile came last week, giving a justification to the alarmists, those always shouting about the protection of the telecommunications sector, that they are not wrong and that there is, indeed, a justification to jealously secure the sector for our collective good. The cliché instructs that you do not kill the fowl that lays the golden eggs! The ICT sector of which Telecoms remains a very visible component is heading down that lane that attracts protection and preservation.

    The figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which showed a mild positive economic growth of 0.11 per cent also credited the Information and Communications Technology Sector with an encouraging growth of 15.06 per cent in Quarter 4, 2020, thus remaining one of the few sectors to enjoy a double digit growth throughout the year in spite of the pandemic, with others being 13.47 per cent Quarter 3, 2020, 17. 83 per cent Quarter 2, 2020, and 14.07 Quarter 1, 2020.

    Comparatively, the Oil sector contributed 5.87 per cent in the same quarter down from 8.73 per cent in Quarter 3, 2020. The report noted that oil production stood at 1.56m barrels per day which is way below the 2.00m per day recorded in the same quarter of 2019. In everything production there is unpredictability especially in our part of the world and the oil sector is not sequestered from such vagaries. And this should give us some concerns because we are still some years away from what Jeremy Rifkin called the ‘carbon bubble’ in his book, The Green New Deal, when the world will rely more on cleaner sources of energy, and what we have always bragged about as our massive investment in the oil sector, the magic mono product that sustains our economy, will become stranded assets. That day is not far away and yet our oil production is not stable enough to meet the exigencies of the immediate.

    So, in a troubled world the ICT sector rallied to a surge. This is hardly surprising because technology has always been there to ameliorate the worries of the world in moments of crisis. This is what has happened in Nigeria. When the world started to shut down last year under the weight of COVID-19 and shifted the breathing pattern to a new normal, ICT provided the vessels of communication. There were no movements but people were talking. There were no cinemas yet people were entertained. Even when jobs were lost and people suffered hunger they still scrounged enough to buy air time so that they could stay connected. But for technology it would have been a nightmare far beyond what anybody could ever imagine. What showed on the GDP is not a fluke and, without being a prophet, technology is going to provide the support structure for our GDP into the foreseeable future.

    You therefore need to understand the alarmists when they cry that the telecommunications sector needs to be delivered and protected. As I write, there are still some states that put strictures on the part of service rollout by telecom operators or even allow expansion where services are already available. In parts of the country where there are security challenges – and the challenges are pervasive – but obviously more serious in some areas, telecommunications services have been seriously disrupted and or totally decoupled from existence.

    Plus the security challenges are the activities of some highly placed government officials, the politicians among them who throw their weight around some regulatory agencies while trying to approximate the laws setting up these agencies. This writer has always shouted on this column that the telecommunications and Broadcast sectors are too important to be subjected to the mood swings of an ephemeral politician. They need to be freed up for growth to enable the sectors build up the strength to leverage the country into the future. Those who doubt the importance of ICT should ask themselves just these questions: Where was Zoom two years ago and where is it now? Which technology supplies the oxygen to the new normal?

    One other matter. The government seems to be thinking right when, last week, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved about N8.9bn for a new National Information and Communication Technology park in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). My little warning is that this project should not be a packaged deal for any politician or a political stunt. This nation obviously needs such intervention projects that can withstand or at least attenuate a headline inflation of 16.47 per cent and food inflation of 20.57 percent. We need to put an end to the hunger in the land using technology.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja.

     

  • Telecoms: Matching industry stats with subscribers’ peace of mind, By Okoh Aihe

    Telecoms: Matching industry stats with subscribers’ peace of mind, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    There is a total lack of shame when the puissant political opportunists who superintend our lives claim credit for every minuscule strand of progress, appropriate credit for everything but the ugly. Soon and very soon they will claim credit for the rising and the setting of the sun except that such foolhardiness will attract the wrath of the Creator and He will strike them with the ferocity they deserve.

    There is pervasive cry across the land. Vehicles are bushwhacked, content marched into the bush and molested, milked and ransomed for money; farmers are killed in their farms and their crops destroyed; whole villages are attacked, inhabitants driven out and their homes taken over by ferocious looking marauders; our forests have become homes to some gangsters, doing maximum damage to their host environments and, oftentimes, to unfortunate travelers; in fact, there was a report of a particular bizarre incident on Benin Auchi Road where the bandits staged a terrible accident and with impish bravado went from vehicle to vehicle picking choice victims in the chaotic traffic buildup.

    This is not a Nollywood movie. This is reality. In all this, not much is heard from the central government that controls the security arms. Not much of a stir. But the government acts speedily when these people of a particular tribal variant, are asked to leave by the natives if they cannot operate according to the laws of the land. Pray, what do you call a man, native or alien, who wields a sophisticated weapon in your bush or highway, yet does not belong to any of the security arms!

    The foregoing troubles my mind always. Of course, if you have experienced it, like I did in 2016, if you have been in their midst with about twelve people directing their guns at you while some fired in the air just to let you know that movie time is over, if only God who you couldn’t even see at the moment guaranteed your escape, then you have every reason to be angry at a government with exaggerated claim to performance.

    Every moment you flip when that government bandies figures of achievement without determinate understanding. But when I saw the figures released by the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, at a briefing with Engr Festus Daudu, new Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, my primary reaction which is demonstrated in this article, wasn’t anger but a need to contribute to the understanding of the communications team for the nation to experience a much better telecommunications industry.

    Here are the figures: 53, 000 base transceiver stations (BTS), 47, 000 km of fibre optic cables and 208m subscribers across the mobile platforms. Juxtaposed with industry history there could actually be an infinitesimal reason to manage a smile. Except that one has been in the industry long enough to caution against any stirring hope but instead call for a focus on the big picture.

    I will return to the figures but first a little attention on the Permanent Secretary, Engr Festus Daudu, who we used to simply call Engr, that is if the transient lures of office have not started to corrupt his humble being. Even before becoming a Director in the Ministry of Communications, as it was called before the days of the locusts, Engr spoke for the nation in powerful international organizations like the ITU and participated in so many decisions that were taken at high-level meetings, including the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference where far-reaching decisions are taken by the representatives of the Member States. I recall with a sense of pride that Engr did the nation very proud on each occasion.

    So it is quite befitting that a sound technocrat of the communications industry has returned home to steer the industry at the highest level of decision making except that the industry at its current state is limping, troubled more by the arbitrariness of the Minister overseeing it. This is the first challenge for Engr, to dip into his knowledge of the sector, and school and steer the Minister to expected exactitude of decisions concerning the well-being of the telecommunications industry which is more in the news today for the wrong reasons.

    Engr Daudu has a job in his hands. He spoke for the country and industry internationally. Now is the time for him to act and speak for country and industry nationally.

    Appealing as the figures quoted above may look, here is a little home-truth about them based on findings in the industry. There was a particular report that Government has increased the telecom base stations in the country from 30,000 to 53, 000. That is an irritating manifest display of ignorance. The government has nothing to do with the number of base stations. That is an industry contribution. The government should be concerned with providing an enabling environment, an area it is failing at the moment.

    However, an industry source tried to explain that the fact there are 53, 000 base stations doesn’t necessarily mean that there are 53, 000 sites. From his explanation, the number of sites could actually be fewer, thus, dimming the number of jobs that could actually be created through the building of base stations. Explaining further, he noted that a site is the physical infrastructure while the equipment forms the base station. In this regard, there are unique base stations with the capacity to carry 2G, 3G and 4G equipment on the same structure. This, in the computation of the industry and regulator, would be counted as three base stations. Moreover, the co-location guidelines of the regulator also enable the operators to put their equipment on the same structure. Thus, one station could be counted as two, three or four, depending upon the number of operators using the site.

    Instead of industry stats, my source advised that what should present more meaning to the various stakeholders, especially the regulator are: the user experience, cost of service, efficiency and coverage, among others. When each base station is matched with 1000 or 10,000 subscribers what plays out immediately is that we hardly have enough base stations in the country. While the source observed that the user experience at the moment is very depressing especially for people depending on Zoom to run their businesses as result of COVID-1 – the new normal, he counseled that this should be the time for creative infrastructure deployment by operators who should be able to use their facilities to encourage and support online studies in our higher institutions. My source was saddened by the experience of one lecturer who complained that a full hour’s lecture could be wasted while trying to make a Zoom connection. To solve this problem the networks need to build more data capacity.

    The source called out the government to resolve security challenges across the country while appealing that it also makes foreign exchange transaction easier for industry operators to facilitate service expansion, the same way it is encouraging Nigerian manufacturers.

    It is also the responsibility of government to eliminate sundry challenges like state and community issues that impede the service rollout and expansion plans of the operators. Exactly two decades after relishing a tipping point in telecommunications, time has come to advance the narrative, very positively.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja

  • For Telecoms, a look back in Hope, By Okoh Aihe

    For Telecoms, a look back in Hope, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    The above title is not totally my idea. It is inspired by John Osborne’s 1956 play, Look Back in Anger, which played out at the Royal Theatre in the United Kingdom and was staged in parts of the world, thus making the playwright very wealthy and quite popular. But placed side by side with the journey of our recent past, not many people will agree with me. In fact, without doubt, they will get angry, very angry.

    What is there to be hopeful about? Is it the socio-political situation with endless deaths? Is it the economy in recession? Is it the education sector with students out of school for nearly a year? Or even the #EndSARS Movement that was brutally repressed to the shame and equivocations of the authorities? What is there to give us hope?

    Here is my little story. One quiet evening in the final days of last year, a very nasty year for that matter, when it was heading to its final resting place with its ignoble debris arising from a shock pandemic and government’s failure to address even basic issues, not to talk of the challenging ones, I had the opportunity to sit with Engr Ernest Ndukwe to ruminate over the past, including the telecommunications industry that has become a major benefit of democracy since 1999. Point to any other sector, the people who endure the daily grind of life will point to the contrary.

    Nigeria seems to be witnessing a shaking but Ndukwe, this very night, was cool, very cool. Seemingly unperturbed by the swirl around him. A lot is happening in the industry in which he has enjoyed the status of a super hero, yet he remains calm, very calm, and is very optimistic and excited about its future. Perhaps, this is what it takes to enjoy a regeneration and relevance after so many years of being a household echo.

    There are indications that in a country where history as a subject has been panned and education allowed to atrophy, not so many young people will remember Ndukwe with reverence in the next few years. But for some of us who remain privileged witnesses of history, he remains a referenced metaphor of the Nigerian can-do-spirit which makes the near impossible happen.

    Looking back in time, he told me that night that all he ever wanted to be was to be given the opportunity to manage NITEL for Nigerians to see the potentials of the organization.

    NITEL? Who remembers NITEL now? Situated within our meagre aspirations for telecommunications, NITEL with just about 500,000 connected lines for a population of over 119m in 1999 was a niche industry! Very lean aspirations indeed. Ndukwe never got the opportunity to manage NITEL and release its shut-in wealth but he got much more and, in the process, unleashed the growth of a sector which, despite being subjected to serial abuse, has remained very resolute.

    His wasn’t a political appointment determined by zoning or, if you properly weigh the corrosive meaning of one of the latest vocabularies, nepotism. He was already a major industry player being the chief executive of GPT and a president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), a platform he used to campaign for the liberalization of the telecommunications industry.

    The coming of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 (God bless him always for giving us a globally acknowledged telecommunications industry) gave Ndukwe the opportunity to express himself at the highest level of the industry. OBJ’s plan to quickly green light the economy by breathing life into sensitive sectors found traction in the proselytization of Engr Ndukwe, to create a better industry where phones should not enjoy the exclusive use of the rich. He was appointed the chief executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the year 2000.

    The Digital Mobile Auctions of January 2001 is usually seen as the tipping point of the country’s telecommunications renaissance. But that fateful night, Ndukwe cast his mind beyond the auctions to look at the solid board that was put in place by the President. The Board was headed by OBJ’s old friend, Ahmed Joda, a technocrat with little appetite for sloppiness. He recalled that working with the board, the Commission diligently put together a core staff that would continue to animate the soul of the industry.

    Apart from the air we breathe the telecommunications sector is the only other outstanding benefit of democracy since 1999. The sector which has suffered a regulatory capture of recent due to the meddlesomeness of overzealous government officials, provides the superstructure for even life and every other sector of the Nigerian economy to run. So, it is not out of place to hint that if you unplug the sector, you take down the entire economy of the nation in shreds.

    Ndukwe would not subscribe to the seamy side of the industry. Instead, he remains excited about the potentials of the industry, saying there is so much opportunity it offers, so much yet to be done and achieved in terms of service to the people. He observed that with better working relationship between the regulator and industry operators, the country has enough human capital to further explode the sector. If we could do it before, promoted an industry that arrested global attention for over a decade, the industry is much more prepared today with enough knowledge to create another wave of growth.

    He is speaking from a position of knowledge. Over a year ago he was appointed to the Board of MTN Nigeria as Chairman, among a crack team that was put in place by the service provider which seemed to be in search of more secured channels to cement its leadership in, and hold on the industry. With scant reference to that development Ndukwe says MTN is a well-run organization.

    Their dominance in the market clearly supports Ndukwe’s testimony. But there is something else. MTN came prepared for the Nigerian market because of their experience in South Africa. Shortly after the auctions that evening, this writer had an opportunity to have a quick chat with Irene Charnley who led the MTN group. Her points were well made. MTN made a mistake in planning for the South African market, she explained, because we were told the black population didn’t have money. But market demands quickly outstripped their preparations.

    Drawing from that experience MTN planned for a position of advantage in the Nigerian market and that position has hardly been troubled ever since.

    The night was ageing and Ndukwe looked at me. “There are so many areas of strength in the Nigerian economy; all we need to do is to approach them in a very positive way. We can draw knowledge and strenght from each other as a people to push our nation to the greatest height.”

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja.

     

  • How NCC sustained Nigeria’s telecoms sector in 2020

    How NCC sustained Nigeria’s telecoms sector in 2020

    No doubt, the year 2020 will pass as one of the busiest year for telecommunications as despite so many being apart from friends and family due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were still able to connect with each other through online video and audio calling, and in record numbers.

    In 2020, people turned to technology to stay in touch and get things done in the face of social distancing and stay-at-home mandates, and video calling became arguably the most in-demand feature.

    Telecommunications, which the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) regulates in the country, was in the heart of it all.

    In this piece, TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) brings you the regulatory impacts of the NCC on the Nigerian telecoms sector in the outgone year.

    Telecoms in 2020: A Review of NCC’s Regulatory Activities

    For telecommunications sector, the year 2020 has been an eventful year with a lot of landmark regulatory initiatives by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    The policies, programmes and activities of the Commission have further positively impacted the upward trajectory of the digital ecosystem in the year under review.

    Also, the year 2020 came with a lot of challenges but the Nigerian telecommunications sector continued to record significant growth.

    The impressive performance and growth, made possible through effective regulatory initiatives emplaced by the telecoms regulator, under the leadership the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, was despite the apparent economic recession and headwinds occasioned by the global outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant lockdowns, especially in Nigeria.

    The effective and future-proof regulatory regime by the NCC, coincidentally prepared the telecoms sector to be able to provide the needed digital valves that helped to keep the Nigerian economy afloat through seamless communication by individuals, businesses and government institutions in terms of voice and data services provided by telecoms operators, at a time when all other sectors of the economy were comatose.

    A major development in the industry in 2020 was the reappointment of Prof. Danbatta for another five years term as the EVC of NCC, a presidential action that was resoundingly lauded by industry stakeholders, who described Danbatta “as a round peg in a round hole.” His reappointment and subsequent confirmation by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the third quarter of 2020 also helped to ensure industry sustainability and policy consistency, preparing the industry for increased growth. Danbatta came into office as EVC of NCC in August 2015 for a five- year period in the first instance. The first term ended in August, 2020 after which the he was reappointed by the President.

    This sustainability and consistency in the leadership of the Commission and in policy initiatives under Prof. Danbatta in 2020, therefore, allowed the Commission to uninterruptedly carry on with a number of regulatory activities towards ensuring increased access to telecoms services, ensuring increased consumer education and protection, boosting security of life and property, sanitising the industry while also supporting other initiatives that aimed at boosting innovation in the telecoms sector and continuously galvanizing the country’s overall economic growth.

    In the year under review, growth statistics and major regulatory initiatives and policies undertaken by the Commission which have continued to put the industry on the consistent path of growth and keep the telecommunications sector resilient to support the national economy, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, are examined.

    According to official telecom industry data, the telecoms contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased to over 14.30% as of second Quarter of 2020, according to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In financial value, the 14.30% translates to N2.272 trillion in Q2, 2020. Whereas, telecoms contribution as at December 2019 was 10.60%. Also, telecoms investment continued to grow in leaps and bounds in 2020 beyond $70 billion.

    Active mobile voice subscribers increased from 184 million in December, 2019 to 208 million by October, 2020. This represents an additional 24 million active mobile lines accessed by Nigerians across mobile networks from December, 2019 to October, 2020. Accordingly, teledensity (the total number of telephone lines per hundred people in an area) increased from 96.76% in December, 2019 to 108.94% by October, 2020.

    NCC’s regulatory activities also resulted in increased connectivity in the country. From, 126 million in December, 2019, Internet subscriptions rose impressively 152.9 million as of October, 2020. In the same vein, broadband (i.e. high-speed Internet) penetration maintained an upward swing to 45.93% in October, 2020, up from 37.80% in 2019.

    Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service continued to offer wider option of service for telecoms consumers in 2020. In the year under review, 158,128 telecom consumers ported their lines between January-October, 2020, as against over 120,000 lines that were ported in 2019. The increase in MNP service usage is due to increased public education and awareness by the Commission’s head office and its zonal offices, as they intensified awareness on the availability, usage and benefits of MNP across geo-political zones. (Mobile number portability is a service introduced by NCC on mobile networks which allows telecoms consumers to switch from their current network to another preferred network, without changing their mobile number, when they feel a need to do so).

    The Commission was able to successfully resolve over 98% of the total consumer complaints received from telecoms consumers via the NCC Toll-Free Number 622, NCC Consumer Portal, social media platforms and written complaints. Subscriptions by telecoms consumers to the NCC’s Don-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 service reached over 30 million in 2020 compared with 22 million in 2019.

    Furthermore, the following are the various regulatory initiatives embarked upon by the leadership of NCC, which has resulted in the impressive aforementioned statistics quoted above. Each of these is examined, in turns, below.

    NCC’s New Strategic Management Plan (SMP) to drive Digital Economy

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in June, 2020, unveiled its new Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 2020-2024 as a pedestal to drive the implementation of the Federal Government’s digital economy vision. The launch of the SMP demonstrated the Commission’s serious improvement in performance matrix and its efforts in accelerating the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and the National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2020 – 2025 of the Federal Government. The SMP, according to Prof. Danbatta, is the fulcrum that will aid the NCC in driving its telecom regulatory mandate in the fast-evolving telecoms industry, in the next five years. It will also serve as a roadmap for the future of the Nigerian telecoms sector, taking into consideration the current and emerging trends in the industry and the numerous expectations of the diverse stakeholders. The SMP 2020 – 2024 is the visioning document of the Commission for planning, monitoring, analysing, and assessment of the Commission to meet its goals and set objectives. It has five pillars, which include regulatory excellence, universal broadband, promote development of digital economy, market development; and strategic partnering and 25 intended outcomes. Five critical success factors identified for the implementation of the Strategy include: ownership and commitment, effective communication, human resource capacity, development of and adherence to a strategy development manual; and implementation discipline.

    Continuous Driving of ICT innovations for growth

    In 2020, the NCC continued its commitment to investing millions of Naira to drive Information and Communications Technology (ICT) innovations in the academia and while also supporting innovative ideas among young Nigerian tech innovators. Aside several ICT innovation challenge and Hackathon programmes such as the Covid-19 Virtual Hackathon initiated and implemented by the Commission, the NCC, instituted and endowed two additional Professorial Chairs to the tune of N40 million in two more Nigerian universities. The two universities – the premier University of Ibadan, Oyo State and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi State, are endowed with N20 million each over the next two years to embark of massive research to promote innovation to drive socio-economic development in the country. This brings to four the number of tertiary institutions of learning that have benefitted from the NCC’s innovation-driving initiative, having endowed professorial chairs in Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) in May, 2019.

    Boosting FG’s revenue generation

    The total remittances by NCC into the Federal Government’s coffers from 2015 grew and reached N344bn in 2020. The revenue was essentially generated from spectrum sales, operating surplus and sanctions. So, aside spectrum auctions, NCC also engaged in spectrum re-planning, re-farming to optimise the usage of the scarce resource while it continued to address the quality of service (QoS) delivery through effective monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and development of KPIs for Third Generation (3G) and Fourth Generation (4G) networks. All these are in a bid to ensure improved service delivery to telecom consumers. Interestingly, the Commission has received commendation on this financial performance from the House Committee on Telecommunications, who visited the Commission on an oversight function sometime in October, 2020. The committee commended the leadership of the Commission for its transparency in ensuring remittances to FG’s CRF, considering the current revenue drive of the government. The committee urged the NCC to sustain its current template of ensuring effective regulation of the telecoms sector in a manner that would be more mutually beneficial to the industry players, the consumers of telecoms services and to the Nigerian government.

    NCC’s approval for the trial of e-SIM, and national roaming

    In line with its commitment to always put Nigeria’s telecoms sector ahead of cutting-edge technologies that can revolutionise consumer experience, the Commission granted approval for two mobile network operators (MNOs), MTN Nigeria and 9Mobile, to carry out trial on the workability of embedded Subscriber Identification Modules (e-SIM) Service in Nigeria. The trial, approved to run for a period of one year, will involve testing 5,000 e-SIMs by the two networks, subject to compliance with a number of regulatory conditions. According to Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the primary objective of the e-SIM trial is to assess the technical performance of the e-SIM on telecoms service providers’ network towards eventual rollout, if satisfactory. He said the e-SIMs is a technology that will eliminate the need for physical SIM card slots on mobile devices in the near future, adding that the trial is in line with the Commission’s forward-looking regulatory approach to ensure Nigeria’s telecoms ecosystem is in tandem with global best practices.

    Similarly, the Commission also granted approval for MTN and 9mobile trial on national roaming service for a period of three months, commencing from October 14, 2020 to end by January 13, 2020. The two telcos are expected to configure their networks to begin test and simulation for customer experience. The trial approval covers a few local governments, designated as the National Roaming geographic area, in Ondo State. Basically, roaming service will enable a mobile subscriber in Nigeria to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services when travelling outside a particular network geographical area by utilising the network coverage of other networks with roaming arrangements to access service. According to the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the primary objective of the National Roaming Service trial is to encourage network resource sharing among operators. It is will also lead to operational expenditure (OPEX) optimisation and capital expenditure (CAPEX) efficiencies leading to freeing up of resources to expand mobile network coverage to unserved and underserved communities across the country, which will lead to improved Quality of Service (QoS) delivery to subscribers.

    Review of InfraCo project for effectiveness

    In the year under review, the NCC began a strategic review of InfraCo framework and their funding options. To this end, the Commission constituted a committee to review the framework for the licensing of Infrastructure Companies (InfraCo) and recommend sustainable funding options for effective implementation of the proposed national fibre project. It should be noted that the constitution of the committee was sequel to the requirements of the new Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP 2020-2025) and reports of relevant committees set up by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which include the Inter-Ministerial Review Committee on Multiple Taxation on Telecommunications Operators over Right-of-Way (RoW) and the Technical Sub-Committee on Right-of-Way for Deepening Broadband Penetration in Nigeria. These requirements and reports relate to the imperative of reviewing the InfraCo framework to cater for the delays in take-off, change in exchange rate, supply chain and other challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Commenting on this, the EVC said, “The InfraCo project is dear to the government because of its ability to enhance robust and pervasive broadband infrastructure to drive service availability, accessibility and affordability.”

    Continuous commitment to regulatory excellence, transparency and ethical standards.

    The NCC has been ranked highest in terms of compliance to ethics and integrity among other sister agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. The outstanding performance of NCC was contained in the recently released Ethics Compliance and Integrity Scorecard (ECIS), 2020 by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission’s (ICPC). With a total score of 81.15 per cent, the Commission topped the list among three other agencies under the Ministry, which featured in the intra-ministerial agencies’ ranking in ethics compliance and institutional integrity. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) emerged second with a total score of 74.05 percent; Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) came second with a score of 31.9 per cent while the National Information Technology development Agency (NITDA) occupied the fourth position with 17.65 per cent. The report underscores NCC’s critical role as a member of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU), which is the Federal Government’s vanguard for promoting ethics and ensuring compliance to ethical codes within the Nigerian Public sector. The ranking by ICPC, in addition to demonstrating NCC’s commitment to the orderly growth and development of the Nigerian telecommunications industry, underscores the Commission’s strategic role as a key enabler of positive change within Nigeria’s socio-economic landscape.

    Further to this, the ICPC has on Thursday, December 10, 2020 in Abuja, inaugurated the NCC’s Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU). ACTU is the initiative of the ICPC, approved by the Federal Government to serve as an in-house mechanism for corruption prevention within MDAs, in line with global best practices of building strong institutions and institutionalising good governance in the fight against corruption. During the inauguration, Danbatta noted that that the ICPC itself has recently attested to the NCC’s high ethical values and professionalism as evident in the 2020 ICPC Ethics and Compliance Scorecard (IECS) report, where NCC topped other agencies in ratings. The EVC said the ICPC’s verdict also lends credence to the 2017 report of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR)-piloted Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) deployed in MDAs, where the NCC came off with a Platinum Level (Exceptional) award that NCC was a level 5 (Platinum standard) organization, the highest rating possible under the BPSR Assessment.

    Developing MVNO framework for increased telecom access

    In the year under review, the Commission developed a Consultation on Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Licensing Framework, essentially to bring another segment industry players, who will rely on existing operators’ network to offer services to Nigerians in the rural, remote, unserved and underserved areas of the country.

    The MVNO framework is another initiative by the Commission to improve access and connectivity and it is based on NCC’s determination to introduce MVNOs’ services within the telecommunications market of the country. In pursuit of this, the Commission wishes to obtain comments from industry stakeholders and the general public on key considerations, which will be used to formulate a sustainable and efficient MVNO licensing framework, as well as a highly conducive regulatory regime that facilitates growth and development in the telecoms space, through competitive and differentiated services offered by these virtual operators.

    Already, the document has been uploaded on the Commission’s website on December 10 and inputs from stakeholders on the MVNO document is expected to be obtained from members of the public within 21 days of the upload of the document on the Commission’s website. According to Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, upon closure of this period, the Commission will engage in deliberation sessions in an expedited manner to finalize its decisions about MVNO introduction in the market. A consultation report will then be generated and published to the public to create awareness of the Commissions decisions.

    The Commission further noted that the consultation paper is in line with processes stipulated in the consultation guidelines put forward by the Commission in 2007. The Commission expected all comments received to be considered before making a final decision, although the commission may decline to use or consider anonymous responses. Comments and responses submitted are deemed independent from its respondent’s relationship with the Commission.

    Sensitisation on Procedure for Lodging Consumer Complaints

    The Commission leveraged its social media platforms and other legacy media to sensitise consumers of telecom services who are dissatisfied with services rendered to them by any of the Service Providers on the procedures for lodging their complaints to the Commission. They were continuously sensitised on their right to seek redress of any service-related issue by reporting to NCC after they would have reported to their respective service providers and are still not satisfied with the responses.

    Continuous consultation on planned 5G technology deployment Following the misinformation, miscommunication, misunderstanding and misconception that greeted the trial of 5G by the NCC in 2019, the Commission in 2020 began a deliberate regulatory measure by developing a Draft Consultation Document on the Deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) Mobile Technology in Nigeria. The document defines the implementation plan for the deployment of 5G in Nigeria. It provides a background into the benefits of 5G technology and outlines the Commission’s plans and strategies for a successful implementation of 5G in Nigeria and clearly presents guidelines for the relevant areas of the technology and the expectations of the Commission from the operators. This Plan takes into account the expectations of all the stakeholders in the communications industry in Nigeria. Nigeria undertook 5G trials in selected locations within the country in collaboration with an Operator in 2019. The trial, among others, was to study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present and the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has clearly stated that “For the avoidance of doubt, as with the previous technologies such as 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G, the Commission will not commence 5G deployment without due consultation with all relevant stakeholders.”

    Sanitising the industry of SIM-related crimes

    The Commission is currently working with mobile network operators (MNOs) with other agencies such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in line with Federal Government’s Directive, through the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, for telecoms subscribers to link their National Identification Number (NINs) with the SIM database with a view to addressing SIM-related crimes. In the year under review, spirited regulatory efforts were made by the Commission to remove improperly-registered SIMs from the networks and a number of arrest and convictions of fraudulently-registered SIM registration by ‘operators agents’ were also made to serve as deterrent to others who may be engaging in improperly-registered SIM cards, which is a criminal offence in the country and a threat to national security. The Commission also sensitized the consumers on this menace and encouraged them to stop the sale, purchase and use of pre-registered SIM cards as it constitutes a punishable offence under the law.

    According to NCC, the use of pre-registered SIM cards gives cover for unwholesome activities like kidnapping, call masking, threat to lives, bullying, armed robbery, identity theft financial crimes and SIM swap fraud, among others. Closely related to this was the massive cybercrime sensitization that the Commission embarked on since the beginning of the year, culminating in a more widespread social media campaign in the month of October, with greater emphasis by the Commission on child online protection, considering the fact that most children now take Internet-based learning and educational instructions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant restrictions and the need to protect them online was taken as a priority for the Commission, as the regulator of the industry.

    Counting benefits of MNOs listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The Commission, in the course of the year, highlighted the huge benefits which its regulatory action of facilitating the listing of MTN Nigeria and other operators such as Airtel in the country’s stock exchange market in terms of economic gains to Nigeria and Nigerians, especially in the areas of boosting market capitalisation and yielding dividends to shareholders.

    Market analysts report that MTN investors, alone, have raked in approximately N1 trillion in price appreciation and dividends since April 2020. The listing of MTN was as a result of NCC’s effective regulatory action taken during the mobile network operator’s fine settlement agreement in 2016, which compelled the telco to, among other things, list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The listing was one of the outcomes of the NCC’s stringent regulatory posture, which served as tonic for other telcos such as Airtel to follow the same direction.

    Continuing with spectrum trading initiative to boost connectivity The Commission this year lifted the suspension on the Spectrum Trading Guidelines (STG), 2018, pending the conclusion of the ongoing review of the Guidelines. The lifting of the suspension followed deliberations on the subject by the Board of NCC at its Special Board Meeting, which held on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. The Meeting was preceded by the suspension of the STG by the Board at its 96th Board Meeting held in May 18, 2020. “The Board was satisfied that, given the state of the consultation, it was possible to lift the suspension of the STG pending the conclusion of the review,” NCC said in a public notice in October, 2020.

    The Commission had, in a statement issued on May 27, 2020, announced the suspension of STG 2018 for the Nigerian telecommunications industry and informed all licensed telecoms operators, prospective investors, industry stakeholders and the general public of the regulatory decision. The Board of NCC had earlier taken the decision for Spectrum Trading in response to telecommunications global dynamics, as well as the efforts to optimally utilise and maximise the benefits of Spectrum as a scarce resource. Spectrum is a limited resource, which, when inefficiently utilised, greatly limits broadband coverage and speed. The current Spectrum Trading Guidelines were developed in 2018 after industry-wide consultations and this instrument allows that the Spectrum resource be traded on the Secondary Market through Transfer, Sharing or Leasing (TSL) upon satisfying stipulated regulatory conditions.

    According to the Commission, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025 launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja in March 2020, requires that these Guidelines be reviewed to ensure that unutilised Spectrum is fairly traded to facilitate rollout by other operators amongst others. The Guidelines will also help to address the need for ubiquitous broadband deployment to accelerate penetration and access in line with the economic Agenda of the Federal Government.

    Review of ITR for Voice Services and Final determination of USSD pricing for mobile financial transactions

    In September this year, the Commission (NCC) has embarked on a cost-based study to set the new pricing regime for mobile international termination rate (ITR) for inbound international voice calls in the country. The ITR is the rate paid to local operators by international operators to terminate calls in Nigeria.

    As part of the process for the rate determination, the Commission organised a virtual stakeholder engagement forum with relevant industry stakeholders to intimate them with the ongoing cost-based study and the need to cooperate with Messer’s Payday Advance and Support Services Limited, the consultants engaged to carry out the study. Addressing the stakeholders in Abuja recently, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the study has become imperative following the various implementation constraints arising from contending industry and market dynamics that met previous efforts at finding an optimum price for the termination of international voice services in Nigeria. Through the new ITR pricing, the Commission will be able to balance the competing objectives of economic efficiency and allow operators the latitude to generate reasonable revenue.

    Additionally, the Commission, in furtherance of its mandate to protect the interests of consumers and support a robust telecommunications sector, revised its Determination on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) pricing earlier published on the 23rd of July, 2019 and suspended by the Federal Government at the wake of its implementation by the operators. The amendment was necessitated following a protracted dispute between Mobile Network Operators and Financial Institutions on the applicable charges for USSD services and the method of billing. As a responsive and effective regulatory authority, the Commission recognises that its policies are not static and may be modified from time to time as circumstances demand. The NCC has, therefore, determined that Mobile Network Operators must not charge the consumers directly for the use of USSD channels for financial services in the form of end-user-billing. The transaction should be between the MNOs and the entity to which the service is provided (i.e. Banks and Financial Institutions).

    Implementation of Accounting Separation Framework for Telecoms Industry

    The NCC, this year, also commenced the implementation of the Accounting Separation Framework (ASF) in the Nigerian telecoms industry effective from July 15, 2020. The policy document, “Determination on the Implementation of an Accounting Separation Framework for the Nigerian Telecoms Industry”, which was developed via a consultative process in 2015, has undergone a comprehensive review by the regulator in collaboration with telecoms licensees and other critical industry stakeholders. The implementation will commence with six licensees include Airtel Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited (9Mobile), Globacom Nigeria, Main One Cable Company Limited and IHS Nigeria. According to Danbatta, the Commission considers the Accounting Separation Framework “as an effective, least evasive and less costly solution to implement to meet its regulatory objectives”, adding that the implementation of the Framework is also a key deliverable for the Commission in the new National Broadband Plan (NBP), 2020-2025.”

    Creation of Digital Economy Department to supports NDEPS

    In continuation of its renewed strategy and vigour for effective delivery of its regulatory mandate, the Commission (NCC), in July 2020, created a Digital Economy Department, principally responsible for implementing programmes and policies aimed at fully supporting and promoting the national digital economy agenda of the Federal Government. The creation of the new department is in line with the Commission’s strategy to create a dedicated team, with the sole responsibility of giving necessary push to the promotion of digital economy vision of the Federal Government. According to Prof. Danbatta, “placing the newly-created department under the Office of the EVC also underscores the importance the Commission places on the need to successfully drive the overall national digital economy strategy of the government through ensuring its effective monitoring and supervision.” In addition to working with the eight pillars of the National Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) document, the Broadband Implementation Unit in the Commission, hitherto placed under the Special Duties Department and all the staff of the Unit, are to move to the newly-created Digital Economy Department.

    Already, Engr. Babagana Digima, an Assistant Director in the Special Duties Department has been moved and designated as the pioneer Head of the new department. The NDEPS, as a national policy document, was unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2019 to add the needed impetus to the actualisation of the Federal Government’s Economy Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    Increased inter-agency collaboration

    In line with its inter-agency collaboration, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in May, 2020, to ensure the tax agency ascertain accuracy and completeness of value added tax (VAT) elements and other taxes payable in the transactions of telecoms operators.

    With the MoU, the FIRS will be able to integrate an application programming interface (API) technology solution with the systems of telecom Operators for independent verification of the amount of VAT that should be paid by mobile network operators (MNO) rather than relying entirely on the Operators’ books of accounts. The MoU with FIRS joined a long list of other orgainsations both in the public and private sectors which the NCC has collaborated with towards ensuring regulatory excellence, since telecoms percolates all the spheres of our society.

    Gallery of awards with Zik Prize leading the pack

    The gallery of awards that came the way of NCC and its EVC this year is, no doubt, a testament to the recognitions of the excellent leadership ethos that are driving effective industry regulation at NCC. The highest of which is Zik Prize won by Danbatta in the professional leadership category. The prestigious award, which was presented to the EVC at an elaborate and well-attended annual Zik Prize 2020 organised by Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre (PPRAC) in Lagos on Sunday, December 6, 2020, was in recognition of Danbatta’s excellence regulatory finesse, which has resulted in accelerated growth of the industry since 2015. Other awards received in the course of the year include: The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards (GWA) 2020 won by the Commission for its harmonized emergency number, 112 and the construction of Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) in 36 states of the Federation and the FCT with 19 states already operational and additional five ready for activation.

    At the Security and Emergency Management Award (SAEMA) 2020, the NCC was declared Winner of ‘Emergency Management Security and Emergency Management Award and was additionally presented with a Certificate of Excellence for ‘Outstanding Accomplishments in Category of Emergency Management’ at the award.

    Also, at this year’s edition of the Nigeria Tech Innovation and Telecoms Awards (NTITA), which held in November, 2020, Danbatta was honoured with the “Broadband Oxygenator of the Year” for his remarkable role and commitment to the development of broadband infrastructure to support the country’s digital economy drive while NCC, as a corporate organisation received the “Outstanding Contribution to Driving Greater Broadband Penetration Award of the Year.”

    Earlier in August, 2020, two awards, ‘Human Rights Telecoms Defender’ for the EVC and ‘Human Rights Guard’ for the Commission, as a corporate entity, were presented by Wheel of Hope Human Rights Foundation (WHHRF), a frontline Nigerian Non-Governmental Organisation while the ‘Icon of a Greater Nigeria’ was also presented to the EVC by the Youth Coalition Against Corruption (YOCAC), a coalition of Nigerian youths from all walks of life. Coincidentally, WHHRF and YOCAC adduced similar reasons for finding the EVC and Commission deserving of the recognitions: for keeping Nigerians seamlessly connected in the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Also, in September, 2020, the National Association of State Assembly Legislators (NASAL) has in September, 2020, honoured the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta with a “National Service Excellence Award” for his transformational leadership in deepening access to telecommunications services across state constituencies of Nigeria in the last five years. Meanwhile, the winning of the aforementioned awards, among several others in the year under review, has been attributed by many industry stakeholders, stakeholders in the academia and traditional rulers in the country as a testament to the quality of leadership the NCC enjoys.

  • Telecoms and security of lives: Time for desperate measures – Okoh Aihe

    Telecoms and security of lives: Time for desperate measures – Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

     

    When we got into the first part of Kogi State, the young man behind me in the bus, who had engaged his colleagues in animated discussions all the way from Benin, tried to find out our location. Told that we were in Okene, he became a psychotic wreck and flew into kindergarten gibberish to the surprise of those who could hear him.

    Two weeks ago, he tried to control his emotions, his father was kidnapped on that road and those criminals from the hottest part of hell didn’t get in touch with the family until after three days. They demanded for N100m but the family went into a bruising, protracted negotiation and eventually shelled out N10m. The cheek of it all is that the bandits drove all the way to Abuja to collect the money and returned to base before releasing the old man. He still had their contacts in his phone!

    Another two weeks, a bus belonging to a popular transporter was taken on the same road with all the passengers. One of the passengers told his friend that the kidnappers would make contacts with their phone, put it on speaker so that everybody could hear the conversation or if you want to be more appropriate, negotiations. This went on for days. For those whose people were not responding well, they killed in very gruesome way. Two of the passengers were killed before their very eyes, to drive the fear home that what was happening was macabre reality and not make believe. He, an artisan, struggling to eke a manageable life, parted with N1.5m. Apart from the weapons, their phones were their most useful tools.

    So, you could imagine how elevated I felt last week when the House of Representatives told the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the regulatory agency, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to do something about SIM Registration in order to stem the wave of crime in the country. When you look around you and you see despondency, of people nearly giving up on their country, of a National Assembly – the Upper and Lower Chambers, very docile and distant, leaving the people to flagellate themselves about the wrong choices they have made, one should at least cheer one tiny hope of action, even if that action is accidental.

    How can there be so much death in the land and the National Assembly does not know the country is careening into a season of frightening overtime and that something should be done very urgently?

    At last the speaker of the House, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila spoke and I threw up my hands in momentary celebration. Unfortunately, that fleeting celebration has little grip in reality because nothing will happen except we flip the page and begin to do things differently. The reason being that history does not lie. If you look at history long enough, you can begin to see missteps and begin to think of corrective measures. This could be one of the reasons those enjoying the transiency of power abrogated history from the school system so that the evils of our leaders past and present could be interred with them and never studied to achieve a better future.

    But for some of us who enjoy the pleasures of history nobody can remove it from our brains with a magic wand. So, dear readers, let’s take a little journey into a much needed recall. The Regulations on Registration of Telephone Subscribers was made by the Nigerian Communications Commission on November 3, 2011. It was gazetted on November 11 of the same year. The Regulations made it mandatory for every phone line in Nigeria to be registered and also stating penalties for contravention.

    In Part 111, under Registration the Regulations state as follow: (1) Every Licensee shall register a subscribers’ information as specified under sub-regulation (2) of this regulation. (2) From the commencement of these Regulations, Licensees, Independent Registration Agents and Subscriber Registration Solution Providers shall in accordance with registration specifications and at no cost to the Commission or the subscriber capture, register and transmit to the Central Database the – (a) biometrics and other personal information of subscribers who request for the activation of the licensee’s subscription medium; and (b) in the case of a corporate body or other juristic person, the biometrics and other personal information of the authorized representative of the corporate body or other juristic person and name, address and where applicable, the registration number of the juristic person issued by the Corporate Affairs Commission.

    On Activation of new subscriptions, the Regulations state under Part 111, Regulation 12 (1) Upon the commencement of these Regulations, licensees shall only provide new subscribers with subscription mediums enabled for limited access to their network services and such limited access shall last for the duration of the activation window.

    The Regulations were very forward looking and tried to tie down every opportunity for malfeasance. No operator in the telecommunications industry would claim not to be aware of the details, especially when they have very robust regulatory departments.

    March 28, 2011, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah launched the Registration programme with lots of excitement and optimism for the following reasons: “First being that this nation has been waiting for the day when all the SIM Cards in use in the country are registered, and the identity of the owner of every line is known. This is done in other parts of the world and Nigeria wishes to be like other progressive nations of the world.

    “Another significance of this is the achievement of a Central Data base for mobile phone users in Nigeria. Today, therefore marks a major step taken by the NCC, to bequeath to our dear nation, an important tool, a pool of data that will assist other agencies of government, especially the security agencies, and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), etc. in carrying out their jobs in the national interest.”

    I must admit that the registration exercise has had its own successes but vicissitudes would be a more appropriate word. This was largely illustrated by the fine placed on MTN for contravening the regulations, failing to disconnect 5.1 incompletely registered SIM cards in October 2015. Initial fine was N1.04tn but negotiations dragged up to June 10, 2016, when all the parties agreed to a reduced fine of N330bn to be paid in several tranches.

    Even as bludgeoning as that fine may have been, has it solved the SIM registration problems? Not at all. A source within the regulatory Commission told this writer the problems persist, adding that all the relevant stakeholders including the security arms should get on the table to take very drastic decisions instead of chasing shadows.

    There is still a lot of dubious cross-registration especially by agents appointed by operators making it impossible for the registration process to be trimmed into acceptability. Those agents are incentivized on commission thus putting them under pressure to take short cuts that are hurting the purity of the process. The source also noted that a number of people in networth positions in government and businesses hardly go personally to register their SIMs, instead they send their reps by way of exploiting such a window provided in the Regulations. This explains in a very bizarre way why it may be possible for the regulator to say there are no unregistered SIM Cards in Nigeria. Instead the SIMs are inappropriately registered!

    My source was not also happy that some people arrested during enforcement exercises by the regulator were frivolously prosecuted by the Police and let off the hook to the consternation of the regulator. There has to be more commitment and seriousness from the Police, the source appealed.

    I want to suggest that the security situation in the country demands desperate measures by relevant stakeholders in order to stop the needless waste of lives. I am desperately requesting that Regulation 8 should immediately be modified to it make easy for security personnel to have access to subscriber’s data on the networks especially concerning criminal acts. What is in the Regulation at the moment is nightmare which makes life easy for the wicked.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja

  • #EndSARS: The triumph of telecoms, By Okoh Aihe

    #EndSARS: The triumph of telecoms, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    Let’s do a recall. Not in the manner of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall. This isn’t about movies, macho men, pyrotechnics, stuntmen and individual invincibility and heroism but the real world. Tianamen Square, 1989. There was a massacre of young people who raised their voices against the communist system. The protest started on April 15, 1989, over reforms that had left the majority behind while profiting a few, and over corruption in the system and the legitimacy of government. At the height of the historical development, over one million young people, most of them students, were gathered at Tianamen Square. After declaring martial law on May 20, 1989, the authorities mobilized over 300,000 soldiers to march on the square and take out the students. The world saw horror as several thousands were dispatched to the other side of the divide.

    But on June 5, 1989, an individual act of heroism dominated global attention. As a column of tanks was leaving the Square after their ignoble act, a young man dashed in front of the tank in the lead, and it stopped. Each time the tank tried to change direction, the man who remained nameless also changed position to move in front and the situation got stalemated. Surprisingly, the driver couldn’t bring himself to rolling over the lone ranger. The picture flashed across the world. It was the triumph of global television! The man got a nickname: the Tank Man.

    Fast forward. Nigeria, 2020. The situation is not so much different from the socio-economic environment in China at the time except that that country has been able to overcome its economic problems to rate as one of the biggest economies of the world, if not the biggest. Social issues still remain but the economy is providing a cover.

    Back to Nigeria, the economy is in bad shape and has been so even before COVID-19. Insecurity is pervasive and very brutal. Many more are falling into poverty and there is no succor from any direction. Students have been out of school with COVID-19 only serving as redeeming alibi for a government that has been unable to have reasonable discussions and agreement with ASUU. Graduates are on the streets as the few government jobs available are reserved for the connected and those with regional advantages. In fact, governance is in silence and only occasional media statements, sometimes, pompously abusive, give a little inkling of the music playing around the throne of mercy. Perhaps unable to understand this crushing load of discontent and disablement or simply venting sheer frustrations on innocent citizens, the police arm, SARS piled on the burden, summarily executing young Nigerians, and or treating them with unmitigated anger. In all this, the government remained silent.

    The Nigerian youths, often described as lazy, woke up and are saying we aren’t having any of this anymore. Most of them were not born in 1989 and would have no idea of what happened at Tianamen Square. But injustice has a very strong, odoriferous colour and even the visually challenged can confirm this. An innocuous movement. A simple #EndSARS has spread across the nation, and the government understandably is confused. Although there is spontaneous outrage and gatherings across the land, the battle ground is largely cyberspace and virtual. In our rush for greed and wealth in this overwhelming environment of hunger games, we have least prepared for this kind of journey even if we knew a long time ago that it would come any day. We have underestimated the anger in the land; now we have to reap the backlash.

    Unfortunately, this is not about global television anymore; this is virtual reality. This is telecommunications at work. Why would anyone let this kind of thing happen? I have often complained about the intransigence of our governments; now that intransigence has given birth to a child brimming with fire.

    I tremble to think that the various authorities may not fathom the depth of what is happening in the country at the moment. Figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) fill me with utter dread. By August 2020, there were 203, 529, 809 telecom subscribers on the various mobile networks, translating to a teledensity of 106. 62 per cent based on a population of 190m. This figure is quite fluid because the National Population Commission (NPC), in 2018, said the population of Nigeria was 198m. The UN data says the population would be 206, 139, 589 by mid 2020, while Worldometer says our population is 207, 743, 257.

    Dear friends, can you see how fluid the figure is? No matter where you stand the population is substantial. Ordinarily one should be excited that the youths form sizeable chunk of this figure but this is becoming a nightmare. The reason being that a large number of the youthful population own mobile phones and the phones have become perfect tools for mobilization. Here is one area the country has done well, liberalizing the sector, and we cannot begin to flagellate ourselves for at least being able to do one thing right.

    Furthermore, some figures from Statista indicate that smartphones in Nigeria are hovering between 25 and 40million, a figure that is projected to hit about 140million by 2025. The import is that these phones are in the hands of very young people who can literally do magic with a little data in their phones. In the past few days we have seen the beauty and the beast of telecommunications and methinks that more people would rather associate the development with beauty.

    When I watch a good movie, I buy a copy for keeps. Just to build a little library. It helps to edit pressure and introduce some light. So, yesterday I sat down with a couple of my children to watch the film, Invictus, based on the book, Playing the Enemy, by John Carlin. Seeing that film again, tears welled up in my eyes but I didn’t want my children to see me cry just like that. At over 60, they would think that this episode of failure is too overwhelming to bear.

    I know that Clint Eastwood directs great movies and that Matt Damon is a fantastic actor. That film is about knowledge, leadership and inspiration. The very qualities our youth are yearning for. One untold story is that while emerging from apartheid, one of the paths taken by South Africa for internal and external integration with the local communities and the rest of the world was through structured global and continental sporting events. Serious planning, no frivolities here. Rugby World in 1995. African Nations Cup 1996. Nigeria did not attend because of the spat between the two leaders, Gen, Sani Abacha and Nelson Mandela, the Mandiba. It was a terrible moment for our players. The FIFA World Cup in June/July, 2010.

    South Africa was down the ladder and nobody expected the Springboks, their rugby team to proceed beyond the first round even as hosts. Then something happened. The president, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) reached out to the captain of the team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) and struck a great friendship. In their first meeting while making Pienaar a cup of tea, Mandiba asked the rugby player: How do you inspire your team? The response wasn’t clear. Then he recommended the poem, Invictus, by Victorian era English poet, William Ernest Henley, to the player. “It helped me a lot in Robben Island,” the old man said.

    The story in leadership begins, from the old man to a much younger generation. “For us to build a better nation, we all need to exceed our expectations,” Mandela would tell his captain. What Mandela demonstrated with his action is that performance is expected from all parties but leadership and inspiration come from the overall boss. Pienaar did, and South Africa won the Rugby World Cup and thus created a euphoric wave that cemented some level unity in the country.

    The message from our youth is pungent and cogent. Leadership in our nation is not inspiring and nobody is pointing the way to the future. Their sense of mobilisation and organization delivers even a stronger message. They feed themselves, treat the wounded, help the underprivileged, and even clean up their environment after a long day’s work for their world. Clear message of leadership is being sent across.

    The #EndSARS movement is a team without fixed address. Even if you break the mass gathering the dream may not be broken. The sound from the streets gives a different vibe. At the sound of the national anthem, Pienaar told his team mates, “Listen to your country. Listen to your destiny.” Mandela, at the end of the film, is taking the last verses of Invictus: “I am the Master of My Fate, I am the Captain of My Soul.”

    This kind of leadership has not been available for our youths. And they are not asking for too much, other than a moment of zappy inspiration from a leader, just any leader but there is none. Instead, they are presented with a bifurcated crossroads, a future without reason and meaning. Now they have gotten inspiration by bandying together and, all of a sudden, the light is dimming on the dodos. They have reached out to the world and the world has responded very favorably. It is painful to admit that time has come to commence handover discussions with a younger generation which is armed with the language and technology, bestriding the world as a unipolar territory.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja.

     

  • Between Zulum and Fayemi, a good story for Telecoms? – Okoh Aihe

    Between Zulum and Fayemi, a good story for Telecoms? – Okoh Aihe

    Okoh Aihe

    I have been thinking of two governors lately – Dr John Kayode Fayemi and Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum of Ekiti and Bornu States, respectively. Each time I ask myself, can this two be change agents in a positive way to bring the dividends of democracy to their people concerning telecommunication services and accompanying enablement? I mean not the kind of dividends that bring returns only to the pockets of the politicians but real change, the type that can wipe away tears from the faces of the ordinary folks and replace their bitterness and sorrow with honey and the good things of life. At least, for once, let that little infra dig be given the rare opportunity to dissolve a cube of sugar with his tongue, apologies to Ola Rotimi, and enjoy the goodness of life.

    I ask myself, can this duo fill the leadership void so very pronounced and prevalent today to let the people know that something good can come from our land, different from praise singing, when a dirge should have been more appropriate, and genuflecting instead of pervasive condemnation? I was prepared to sing an oriki this morning but even the Yorubas will agree with me that no oriki can come from broken tongues, apologies to Dr Amanze Obi. I do not intend to dampen your day; I am only suggesting that our actions in government should be symmetrical with the hopes and aspirations of the people. Zulum presents brightening hope in country facing very serious challenges which government wants to lobotomize from our memory and experience as a people.

    When his convoy was attacked on July 29, 2020, by defeated insurgents while on his way to Baga, Zulum presented the other side of the story, the inside story not cocooned in normalcy, which they don’t want us to hear. He didn’t hide his consternation and readiness to die only if his people could have peace, when he condemned the insincerity of the security folks around him.

    Zulum has been very active. Reliving his time at IBM in a book titled, Who says Elephants Can’t Dance? Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. wrote: “I have always believed you cannot run a successful enterprise from behind a desk.” Adjusted moderately you will agree that no state governor can run a successful state by staying behind his desk in the state capital. Zulum exemplifies that. He has been very busy while staring reality in the face, perhaps with the conviction that desperate times need some naked truth and force of will.

    Beloved by many as a governor who would speak the truth in a season of disappearing honesty, Zulum’s latest tangle is with frontline telecoms service provider, MTN. An innocuous story in the media last week informed that the governor is into discussions with MTN by way of encouraging and partnering with the operator to green-light at least 50 base stations that were taken out by the insurgents. That is leadership. The leader knows what is best for his people and does not pretend about it. This is no publicity stunt. Zulum knows that the state is in bad shape as a result of the activities of defeated insurgents and is not ashamed to seek help from whoever is in a position to give it.

    The governor’s pragmatism is not an ordinary call. A highly placed source at MTN confirmed to this writer that Zulum actually had a meeting with them and they were prepared to do business with the governor for his very audacious request. Explaining that in the past MTN could not take unilateral action in order not to expose its workers to danger, the source noted that Zulum’s readiness to assist with security and other necessary support are enough to spur the operator into action.

    The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria (ALTON) are quite excited about the foresightedness of the governor in his efforts to revamp business activities in the state. Chairman of the Association, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, told this writer on Monday that the governor’s rapprochement will be rewarded by robust cooperation of its members who had felt disillusioned about the general atmosphere in that part of the country which was not safe for the life of the people or business. Adebayo is encouraging other governors to emulate Zulum in tackling telecom challenges.
    This brings me to the story of the Dr Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti State. As the Chairman of the Governors Forum, the governor has been largely praised for signing Executive Order, No. 007 of 2020, which reduced Right of Way (RoW) Charges for telecommunication infrastructure in Ekiti State by 97 per cent, from N4, 500 to N145. The governor is leading by example and so many other states have followed this very positive approach to telecoms infrastructure build out.

    In celebrating the governor, ALTON wrote in a letter of appreciation dated, May 19, 2020: “This is a laudable decision, which would not only reduce the costs of deployment of telecommunication infrastructure in the State but also significantly encourage ICT development in the State and in turn improve the ability of telecommunication operators to support the Federal Government’s target of achieving 70% broadband penetration by 2025.

    “As rightly noted by His Excellency, the decision would create an enabling environment for businesses, ensure ease of doing business in the State, and facilitate the provision of reliable and affordable broadband connectivity to the people in the State. In addition, the decision is expected to further attract investments for the development of telecommunication infrastructure in the State in line with the ease of doing business initiative and ultimately boost socio-economic activities and the internally generated revenue of the State,” ALTON gushed.

    Let me now explain why the oriki got trapped in broken tongues. While Fayemi was giving an Executive Order to attract telecom operators to the state, with encomiums pouring in from far and wide, the Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service (EKIRS) was paving the path of contradiction, leading the state away from a new dawn of development, to a past where less than average was seen as perfection. Anachronism has a seat in governance sometimes and only the bold can dislodge it.

    While the ALTON letter of May 19, 2020, to Fayemi serenaded him to no end, another letter dated June 2, 2020, wasn’t that very salutary. Instead the letter titled: Introduction of New Fees and Charges on Telecommunication Infrastructure in Ekiti State – Request for Your Urgent Intervention, was to seek the quick intervention of the governor in resolving a cocktail of taxes slammed on telecom operators in EKiti State. Should I say a plethora of taxes! I am looking for the right word to describe the development but perhaps you can merge the two. I am sure like drug in the veins, for the addicts, a mixture of the two words can produce the kind of concoction that will be very damaging to the health of telecoms business in Ekiti State.

    Here are the charges being canvassed by EKIRS and for which the operators are being pressured. They include: Building/Planning Permit for each BTS/Mast – N1, 350, 000; RoW Charges per Linear Metre – N2, 500; Inspection/Project Management Fee per BTS/Mast – N135, 000; Annual Administrative Charges per BTS/Mast – N180, 000; and Annual Maintenance Access Fee per Linear Metre – N 300 (applicable to existing fibre ducts and cables laid in any road across the state).
    The ALTON letter to Fayemi points out the inconsistency in the charges of the tax drivers and how their actions fly in the face of a state and federal government trumpeting ease of doing business with intent to attract investors to state and country. ALTON argues that such charges will invalidate government’s effort in achieving the 70 per cent broadband penetration target stipulated in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020 –2025.

    My simple question is: What is happening in Ekiti State? How can the governor and EKIRS be running in opposite directions? On the RoW reduction the governor demonstrated strength in leadership and decision making. What really is happening? Has Fayemi fallen for the filthy lucre that telecoms yields the highest returns in taxes and therefore abort his long term dream for the state?

    Engr Adebayo describes the development as giving something with the smallest finger and taking it back with the whole hand. What a grotesque way of withdrawing a gift? The wider implications are not very good; not for the state and not for the telecommunications industry.
    This is the time for Fayemi to backtrack, reappraise the situation and reload in order to regain full strength to execute his dreams for Ekiti State. As the chairman of the Governors Forum, his actions should encourage colleagues like Zulum that what he plans to do with MTN is the right thing to do for a people living in a country that is starved of empathetic leadership.
    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja

  • Giving telecoms a new job in the age of pandemic, By Okoh Aihe

    Giving telecoms a new job in the age of pandemic, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    The lizard family enjoys the ignominious homogeneity of lying prostrate on the ground, so it is difficult to say which one has a bellyache. Same would be said of our educational sector apropos technology. Before COVID-19, there were technology connections going on in as many schools as possible, mostly in secondary and tertiary institutions. It would be assumed then that things were going very well to stem any eventuality and laugh at failure in the face. Then the wind blew inform of an unexpected pandemic and the backside of the fowl revealed a non-too complimentary picture.

    This writer is only fortunate to have a voice through a weekly column. He has wards in the country’s education system, both in public and private schools, from the primary, through secondary, to the tertiary institutions. He has seen bungled efforts on the part of schools, frenetic attempts to do something new and has also seen docility and acquiescence to failure by government institutions who have really not squared up to a new normal.

    If this happened in 1999 it would enjoy some toleration because technology was mostly only for the marketers, some organisations projecting into the future, and the apostles in the guise of journalists who continued to sermonize about a world that looks more utopian than reality, but which for them was the only way to go. COVID-19 is only a painful reminder that, that future is here and we have missed the point very badly. Remember 1999? Our telecoms development was still being compared to that of Mongolia and the space to maneuver was strictured.

    I had some moments of flashback over the weekend, looking at some of the activities of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, and wondering whether, beyond the exaggerated sense of achievements, there is a way it can work with other Ministries, like the Ministry of Education, for Nigerians to truly enjoy the benefits of a digital ecosystem. For instance, the ministry houses the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) with its sub sect, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Galaxy Backbone Plc., National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComsat) Limited, and Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST). Some of these agencies are businesses which is quite anomalous in a liberalized business environment in which government expects to attract some foreign investment. Reason being that anywhere government is involved in business directly, competition takes back seat, and favoritism and patronage become the real beneficiaries. One other reason that people are concerned with developments in the telecommunications industry is that the sector should occupy the heart of any genuine growth and development in the country only if it can be symmetrical with other sectors of the economy.

    For instance, some of the agencies under the Ministry carry out a lot of tech build out programmes in secondary and tertiary institutions across the country, is it not possible to involve the Ministry of Education and NUC in the rollout process to ensure relevance and justifiable use of the projects? Is it not possible for the NCC and, through the USPF, properly map out a deployment process that will put the education sector at a point of advantage? Is it not also possible to ensure that organisations like MainOne are able to reach out to the education sector with a special pricing and thus be able to create a niche market?

    And wait for this. NigComSat has a satellite in space and you will agree with me that a satellite out there without proper utilization is not more than an unidentified flying object (UFO) waiting to drop out there or simply just endanger the life of humans on earth. My idea is that NigComSat is a fluke, an idea oversubscribed through poverty of thoughts and deficient reasoning. Otherwise, the business should be able to sell satellite space to individuals and organisations who need such technology. I would think that part of its business would be to connect most of the institutions in the country and ensure they enjoy sustained internet connectivity. This way, the students are happy and NigComSat will make money. But what do we have? A government business that draws money from government to fund its budget instead of being self-sustaining.

    Why should one think this way? We should always project into the future and expect things to happen, including bad ones. For instance, between 2014 and 2016 when the Ebola disease hit some West African countries, education was a major casualty. In countries that were really hit schools suffered closure for between six to eight months leaving millions out of school. Nigeria had a star performance in warding off Ebola: 19 infections and seven deaths. The world tried to study the Nigerian model. However countries plan ahead for Education in Emergencies (EiM) – war could break out, there could be some natural disaster; how do we respond as a country?

    COVID-19 had a global hit giving it the notoriety of a pandemic. The Nigerian government ordered the closure of schools on March 19, 2020. Unlike Ebola that was strategically tamed, COVID-19 assumed a frightening dimension and the government didn’t want to risk the safety of the students and the general well-being of the citizenry. Even now schools remain shut with exit students just starting their exams on Monday. COVID-19 effect on life including education is comprehensively disconcerting.

    In her work, written for World Literacy Foundation, Education and COVID-19 in Nigeria: Tackling the Digital Divide, Taibat Aduragba Hussain made some inquisitions: “Considering the state of Nigeria’s education sector, pertinent questions arose: Do schools in Nigeria have the technology to cater for the 46million students affected? Do households have the facilities to engage their children in remote learning? Do teachers have the resources to deliver live lessons or record a massive open online (MOOC) styled lessons?”

    The truth is that there are too many troubles facing the country at the moment. Even before the pandemic poverty was already dealing a mortal blow on the country causing us to become the poverty capital of the world, meaning that too many people, some stats say over 100million, live below one US dollar a day. Those grinding out this corroding daily existence would not immediately be fascinated with digital education. It would interest you here to know that the Nigerian Communications Commission would always talk of the digital divide and the served and underserved areas. The pandemic revealed the deep under-belly of the gulfs that exist in the industry demonstrated in the fact that most city dwellers seem to be years ahead of rural folks even when telecommunications signals are available in over 70 per cent of the country.

    Without wanting to jump to conclusions, I posed one question to three gentlemen, one industry practitioner and two academics: Was Nigeria ready for the pandemic? “Engr Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON President observed that “as a people, culturally, we are too used to bricks and mortar, always with the notion that church and school must be within a confined environment without taking into consideration the lifestyle of today’s young people. The pandemic has shown that the church and school can be inside your electronic gadget – your phone, computer, iPad and other means of connectivity. We need to change our way of thinking”

    A Professor of Mechatronics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof Abiodun Musa Aibinu, was vehement in saying that “technically, our education system as a whole was not prepared for the pandemic and we were also a bit slow in our reaction.” While praising the National Universities Commission for developing capacity for open distant learning (ODL) and licensing some institutions to offer distant learning services, he requested of government to pay attention to research which has nearly been forgotten in the fight against COVID-19.

    Prof Muhamed Bashir Muazu of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, lamented the rot in the education system, pointing out that university lecturers under ASUU, were on strike even before the pandemic. “No. The no is not necessarily that we don’t have the facilities; even the people in the system are not skilled enough. The University system says we can’t go virtual because we are not ready to face reality.” Muazu warned that the world is leaving us behind. “There should be a policy that permits virtual learning, a policy that will compel us to do a serious rethink on the way we deliver content.”

    Some people are already looking at the other side of a disease infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands around the world, and asking for a traction between the telecoms industry and the education sector in order to extract meaning and advantage out of a painful moment in history.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja

     

  • Telecoms in a season of mounting expectations, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    Nigerians love to be serenaded and wear appellations as a crown. The politician wants to return to office even when the track record carries the stigma of shame. They promise the people the good things of life but abandon them with empty stomach and a future in destitution. Yet the people praise-sing and those liberated enough to maintain contrary opinions are labelled as enemies of the state and the perennially unhappy souls. But where has praise-singing brought us? A terrible impasse and a future at the crossroads.

    This is why my cautionary appeal to the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, is not to fall into the praise-singing trap or see mischief in the eyes of those who are making critical suggestions on how to advance the fortunes of the telecommunications industry. Because, really, in spite of bellicose opinions, some people must do a job for the state, the welfare of our society and the future of our forebears.

    Let me at this point observe that the biggest response of the Commission to some good-intentioned suggestions to the Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, following his tenure renewal, was a rehash of his achievements which influenced relevant authorities to take that decision in his favour. For me, there is no need for justifications. That is in the past: a history of mixed fortunes. Those who run a race looking back are, at best, like the ostrich which has its head buried in the sand thinking there is nothing happening out there. Why nothing can be done about the past, we can shape the future in the way it best suits us with strategic thinking, devoid of stupidly genuflecting culture and diversionary pretenses that all is well and really cool.

    Without seeing ghosts in every shred of suggestion the Commission should know that the burden of expectation is enormous as Nigerians cannot continue to rue near-miss opportunities all the time. The colours ahead are enough to warn us that the future belongs to the class of people who market intangible, intellectual and creative products, much unlike our country whose everything is anchored on crude oil. Unfortunately, oil is a dying resource. The crash of oil prices at the beginning of the year is enough warning that the dangers ahead are as solid as Zuma rock only if we can see with clear eyes.

    Writing in his book, The Green New Deal, Jeremy Rifkin predicts that the carbon bubble which will mark the collapse of the fossil fuel civilization could come as early as between 2023 and 2030, as more organizations decouple from fossil fuels and turn their attention to cheaper and more healthy alternatives like solar, wind and other sources of renewable energies and accompanying zero-carbon technologies. He suggested that what we call wealth represented by oil will soon turn to stranded assets – oil in the ground and all the investment in production, distribution and marketing; they will be of no value and use to the owner. A few days after I got this book in September last year, a highly placed Nigerian government official made a remark to some foreign visitors to the intent that oil was forever. That is our mindset. How very preposterous to reality and unfolding global situation! If the coming of electric vehicles doesn’t trouble our reality, nothing else will.

    It is only expected therefore that more attention will turn to an organization like the NCC which for two decades has displayed resilience to effect and affect change. To return to our point of departure penultimate Wednesday, the industry has continued to pile up suggestions for the EVC; areas to quickly look at as he begins to settle down for a second edition of his reign at the Commission.

    One of such suggestions is the Licensing framework which has remained the same; frozen, for nearly two decades. Some industry players are suggesting that the entire package be reworked and updated in scope and limitations in line with technological developments that have occurred within the intervening period. The telecommunications industry remains a fast growing field where new technologies are birthed and quickly go extinct with rapid constancy. A modern license, according to them, should be able to trap such growth and nuances.

    Some stakeholders are making a strong case for the inclusion of more Nigerians at the highest level of the industry. In their opinion, a reworked licensing framework should make generous provision for Nigerians to feature prominently in the ecosystem, in line with the Local Content policy of the government. Such reasoning recognises the fact that even though Nigerians may not have the financial muscle to play at the top league of the telecoms industry, they should at least be able to control the Value Added Service (VAS) sector, Internet Service Provision (ISP) and other segments that can result in the creation of more jobs for the teeming Nigerian youth population.

    COVID-19 has come with its unpredictability, creating a new normal for businesses and social interactions. It has created a new normal through which humanity can engage with themselves. There is the suggestion that the Commission should introduce policies that can support infrastructural build-out strong enough to support workers to work from home and other remote locations. Such policies should support an expansive rollout of 4G and 5G which have capacities to support human activities from any location. The Infracos should be given a serious boost and be empowered to rollout services instead of remaining a paper achievement as the speed of growth has whittled in recent years while expectations are mutating.

    The massive deployment of infrastructure will help address the next industry concern which is a challenge for the Commission to make determined efforts in bridging the access gaps between the rural and the urban areas of the country. The industry is aware of the Access Gap Map developed by the Commission through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF). The map clearly displays the areas of the country unreached with telecom services, some kind of roadmap to be followed. The appeal is for the regulator to clearly define measurable and quantifiable targets towards bridging the divide so that the media can be invited as partners to verify the targets. It should be explained that the idea of media and other development partners is not to close mark the Commission but to encourage it to perform without removing its legs from the throttle.

    Yet another segment of the industry is making a case for the operators who seem to be holding the short end of the stick as far as financial inclusion is concerned. While the government is trying to broaden the operations of electronic transactions and banking activities, the telecom operators have been put in an unfortunate and unjustifiable position where their facilities provide the backbone in a service for which they receive no income. Much of the reaction of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to their plight is politics wrapped in emotions. Some stakeholders are crying for a redefinition and re-appraisal of the process.

    One more thing; the umbrella ministry appropriately renamed by the minister, Dr Isa Pantami, as the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, is responsible for the formulation, determination and monitoring of the general policy for the Communications sector in Nigeria with a view to ensuring, amongst others, the utilization of the sector as a platform for the economic and social development of Nigeria. However, the rechristening has mostly been a vanity fair, a well-heeled political opportunism to align for future advantages, instead of orchestrated channels to supply the people with tech skills requisite for the journey ahead. It will be to our collective benefit if politics can take the back seat for a moment for a well-orchestrated industry growth agenda to enjoy the centre stage. I am the first to agree that the world has left us behind. The pain will be more if we stand at a spot doing nothing because those who had the opportunity to lead blew their chance pursuing wind.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja