The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed the legal implications of the takeover of Etisalat Nigeria by a consortium of banks while assuring subscribers of telecoms service provider of continuous quality service.
This is coming on the heels of the change in the ownership structure of Etisalat Nigeria.
The company had on Tuesday announced the divestment of part of its shares following its inability to meet up with the payment of a loan it took from the consortium of local and international banks, which amounted to N541 billion.
In this wise, after the loan restructuring talks failed, the company had to cede a substantial part of its shares to the consortium of banks, led by Access Bank Plc.
Following this development, there had been fears about a possible nosedive in the quality of service rendered by Etisalat Nigeria, which is regarded as one of the best service providers in the country.
The NCC, in a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, however, said it would continue to monitor Etisalat for the delivery of quality service.
He drew the attention of the lender banks to Section 38 and Sub-section 1 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 which spells out that, “The grant of a license shall be personal to the licensee and the license shall not be operated by, assigned, sub licensed or transferred to another party unless the prior written approval of the commission has been granted;”
Ojobo, said that the lenders banks must take note of relevant provision of the NCA 2003 as well as relevant provisions of the laws guiding the transfer of licences issued operators by the telecoms regulator.
According to the NCC, Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, “A licensee shall at all times comply by the terms and condition of the license and the provision of this act and its subsidiary legislation”.
Ojobo, who said that NCC is aware of the indebtedness of Etisalat Nigeria to the consortium of banks says that the telecoms regulator and its banking counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), “mediated by holding several meetings with the banks, Etisalat and other stakeholders with a view to finding a resolution”.
Despite the efforts of the two industry regulators of Federal Government, “regrettably these meetings did not yield the desired results”.
“The NCC wishes to reassure the over 21 million Etisalat subscribers that it will do all within its regulatory power to ensure that Etisalat subscribers continue to enjoy the services provided by the operator,” the telecoms regulator stated.