The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said Nigeria was ready for 5G network.
Executive Director of the commission, Prof. Umar Dambatta, who stated this at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja Monday, said with the enlisting of leading mobile operator into the Stock Exchange, other operators, including Bharti Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile were getting set to join the fray.
He said the NCC, apart from holding a stakeholders’ forum to come up with a roadmap on 5G, the commission had opened consultations on spectrum for drones and was proactively leading discussions on the deployment of new technologies.
He said: ‘‘NCC did not just sit back. Apart from constantly engaging with state governors through the NEC, the Governors Forum, we have also stepped in directly by licensing InfraCos to provide fiber bandwidth on an open access bases. We are providing them subsidy to mitigate their costs.
‘‘We expect this to start bearing fruit shortly, but the major thing is the support of the state governors. That is critical. Nigeria is a federation of 36 states; we cannot dictate what to charge for RoW to them, we can only persuade them and hope they see the superior merit and long-term benefits of making their states receptive to telecoms infrastructure.’’
He said with the enlisting of the leading mobile operator in the country into the Nigeria Stock Exchange, other operators, including Bharti Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile, were getting set to join the fray.
Danbatta, who was represented at the event by Sunday Dare, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management at the commission, said with the successful listing of MTN on the stock market, it was expected that Airtel which had already announced its intention, would soon be enlisted on the Nigerian Stock Market, along side Globacom and 9Mobile.
Recall that MTN had on May 7, 2019, filed an application for public listing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Bharti Airtel also on March 21, 2019, opened discussion on NSE listing, remaining Globalcom and 9Mobile.
The NCC boss said the listing of MTN on the NSE, which was in the right direction, offers Nigerians the opportunity to invest in one of the telecom operators in the country, explaining that the commission was part of the negotiation before the enlistment, it was not be part of the commercial arrangement.
Landline
On why it was taking the country longer time to restore landline in the country, he described landline as an integral part of national development and security infrastructure.
He pointed out that though the country needed return of landline, it would require federal might and political will of government to bring it back.
On why NCC was so fixated more on Mobile Broadband than fixed broadband, he explained that the National Broadband Plan had both mobile and fixed components which NCC is exerting action in both directions.
Danbatta said: ‘‘First, some people who should know better are making it seem like a direct policy decision to neglect fixed broadband. This is unfair and untrue. It is either based on ignorance or mischief.
”The fact is that the National Broadband Plan has both mobile and fixed components, and NCC is exerting action in both directions. Fixed broadband requires you to lay cables. To do that, you need Right of Way Permits, which are controlled by State Governments.
‘‘For many years, the industry has been battling with the issue of inordinately high charges for RoW, long delays in granting permits, and destruction of fiber cables during road constructions, incessant stop work orders, etc. etc. a former Minister once said that over 50% of the costs of fiber deployments go to paying taxes and charges. If anything, the situation is getting worse. With this kind of environment, the private sector is not incentivized to invest.’’
‘‘NCC did not just sit back. Apart from constantly engaging with state governors through the NEC, the Governors Forum, etc, we have also stepped in directly by licensing InfraCos to provide fiber bandwidth on an open access bases.
”We are providing them we an output subsidy to mitigate their costs. We expect this to start bearing fruit shortly, but the major thing is the support of the state governors.’’
He added that the commission was actively pursuing the critical Infrastructure Protection bill with the National Assembly to remove barriers to the deployment of fixed infrastructure, which he hoped would be passed soon.
Sim registration/harmonization
On the ongoing harmonization of identity registration, the EVC said a working group, comprising NIMC, NCC and other accredited agencies of government, were currently auditing and working in parallel lines to harmonize the National ID database with the SIM Registration Database.
He said citizens in the near future, would be able to register their sim by simply showing their NIN number, and vice versa.
‘‘This means that the SIM Registration and NIN process will be collapsed and conjoined. This requires clearing a number of regulatory, technical and other hurdles, but we are well on the way,” he said.
