SAMSON AKINTARO 
Over the years, the Nigerian telecommunications sector has witnessed tremendous growth, but the presence of several challenges still bedeviling the landscape means it could have been better. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is, however, not giving up as it continues to push for solutions within the milieu of its regulatory mandates. SAMSON AKINTARO reports
Amidst myriads of challenges, telecommunications in Nigeria has recorded remarkable growth and remains one of the most vibrant sectors of the nation’s economy. Indeed, the sector’s contributions to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) have been rising steadily in the last five years, a feat many have attributed to excellent regulations by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). However, the fact that growth is being recorded despite the challenges indicates that things could be better for the operating companies as well as the telecommunications consumers if the issues are well addressed. This, according to the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, is why the commission has been coming up with various initiatives aimed at solving the sector’s problems.
The odds
During his briefing of the new Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy last week, Danbatta acknowledged that indeed, there were challenges confronting the sector, but there are also proven solutions, which the regulator is vehemently deploying to address them. Danbatta identified the challenges to include quality of service, which mostly affect the subscribers. He also cited power as one of the biggest challenges facing telecommunications operations in the country. With the poor power supply from the grid, Danbatta said service providers are spending huge amount of money on a daily basis to power their base stations. The EVC noted that the issue of multiple regulations and multiple-taxation continued to hold the sector back. The unfair taxes and billing levied on telcos constitute a drawback to infrastructure deployment in the telecoms sector. Other challenges highlighted by the EVC include security issue; theft of equipment; transmission cable cuts; delays in securing approval for sites for new base stations; harassment by some government agencies especially at the state level; and the issue of Right of Way (RoW).
Regulatory efforts
Danbatta noted that to address the issue of quality of service, the commission had been embarking on regular monitoring of the operators’ networks to ensure that they stay within the approved threshold.
This, he said, had ensured the continual improvement of QoS delivery by operators in spite of the environmental challenges. While noting that multiple taxation and regulation have affected the deployment of infrastructure and the expansion of telecommunication services in the country, he said the commission had been engaging with relevant authorities to harmonise these taxes and regulations. On Right of Way, he said that the engagement of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Panatami, with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) led to the adoption of a maximum of N145/m RoW fees in Kaduna, Katsina, Imo, Ekiti, Kwara and Plateau states. “The high RoW charges across different states of the federation have negatively impacted the required expansion and rollout of fiber optic across the country. Harmonisation of the charges will increase investment and expansion of critical transmission infrastructure in the country,” the EVC said. According to Danbatta, the passage of the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Bill, which has been with the National Assembly, will classify telecommunications infrastructure across the country as critical national assets, adding that this would improve the security of the infrastructure and ensure protection against vandalisation. While noting that one of the key objectives of the commission, as enunciated in the Nigeria Communications Act (NCA 2003), is to promote and safeguard national interests, safety, and security, the NCC boss said the commission had been facilitating the provision of industry field data to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) on quarterly basis, to aid geolocation capabilities and investigations of telecoms related activities. He added that the agency was also collaborating with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on the integration of SIM registration with its database.
Other initiatives
In its bid to strategically coordinate and align resources and action to better achieve its mandate and facilitate the emergence of a knowledge-based economy in Nigeria, the commission had developed a strategic vision plan (SVP) 2015 – 2020, premised on 8 pillars referred to as the 8-Point Agenda. Each of the agenda has its focus and targets, which were achieved in the last five years. Going forward, Danbatta said the commission was now in the process of unveiling a new SVP (2021 – 2025), the successor to the SVP (2015 – 2020).
“Importantly, several notable advancements have been observed in the Nigeria industry within the last five years. From 2015 till date, virtually all activities, programmes, and projects by the commission internally and externally are and have been guided by and aligned to SVP (2015 – 2020), the 8-Point Agenda.
“The new plan has further been aligned and conformed to the NNBP (2020 – 2024), the NDEPS (2020 – 2030), the SMP (2020 – 2024), and the ITU strategic plan (2020 – 2023). “The plan also caters for clear-cut separation of progress from the plan, key performance indicators developed from inception, activities tied to implementation responsibility matrix, outcome-based and recommendation-driven follow-up actions,” the EVC stated.
Counting the gains
While briefing the permanent secretary, Danbatta reeled out industry statistics, which, irrefutably captured the growth recorded in the industry. According to him, Nigeria attained and surpassed the 30 per cent broadband penetration target in December 2018 and the penetration has further increased to 45.07 per cent as of November 2020. Also, Danbatta said the number of active phone lines had increased to 208 million, while active Internet subscriptions on global system for mobile communications (GSM), fixed wired and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) networks had equally increased to 154.9 million in November.
He also disclosed that the country’s teledensity now stood at 108.92 per cent. He added that the NCC, through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), had reduced the number of access-gaps clusters in the country further from 114. Hitherto, some 38 million Nigerians were affected by access gap clusters. According to Danbatta, the effective regulatory regime emplaced by the leadership of the commission has resulted in increased deployment of infrastructure by telecoms operators, which in turn, helped to improve broadband penetration and other related service delivery in the telecoms industry.
Specifically, he disclosed that a total of 53,460 3G and 4G base transceiver stations (BTS) had so far been deployed, increasing from around 30,000 recorded five years ago. Danbatta said Fibre Optic Transmission cables have also been expanded from 47,000km to 54,725km in the last five years, resulting in improved broadband/telecoms service delivery to Nigerians.
“The BTS, fibre optic cables and other related infrastructure are central to the provision of improved service experience for Nigerians by their respective telecoms service providers,” he said, adding that the licensed infrastructure companies (InfraCos) are also expected to add 38,296km to optic fibre cables when they commence full operations. Pledging his commitment to do more, the EVC said the commission had positioned itself in government drive for a digital Nigeria, as contained in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020 – 2025), the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020 – 2030), and the Strategic Management Plan (2020 – 2024) of the Commission. This, he said, was in recognition of the tremendous economic growth opportunities afforded by the deployment of broadband and its associated technologies.
“The commission will continue to put in its best in the discharge of its mandates, especially in facilitating the deployment of broadband, which is central to diversifying the Nigerian economy and national development. “Also, it is our belief that the communications industry, under the leadership of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, will experience more quantum leaps and retain its current leadership role in the telecommunications space,” he added.
