The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta has in Barcelona, Spain, told the global telecoms community that Nigeria’s success can be credited to her telecom regulatory excellence.
Danbatta, who spoke as a panelist on the thematic Summit entitled, ‘Creating Incentives for Investment’ at the high profile Ministerial Programme of Mobile World Congress, which ended late last week, said the progress under his agenda is a case in point. He said within this space, broadband penetration grew from less than 10 per cent to 21 per cent, while broadband Internet penetration moved from 20 per cent to 40 per cent, an indication that the target of 30 per cent growth in broadband growth by 2018 is no longer a tall order.
The NCC boss informed his audience, including Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu and fellow ministers, ministers, regulators, vendors, service providers and experts from different countries of the world that the inclusion of operational efficiency and regulatory excellence as an important item of the 8-Point Agenda of his administration is a strategic design, which takes into account, best international standards in all areas of telecoms regulation in Nigeria.
He said in the instance of spectrum management efficiency, remarkable progress recorded in the well-known transparent spectrum auctions, one of which was 2.6GHz spectrum won by MTN on which it has deployed broadband LTE services. Another provider, Glo has also deployed similar services, resulting in percentage growth witnessed in broadband, and broadband Internet penetration within a short period.
In the panel discussion moderated by Mr Brian Williamson, Partner, Communications Chambers, Jolier Zoiller of United States Department of State, and Hector Huici, Secretary of Communications in Argentina, Professor Danbatta said consistent with the protection and empowerment of the consumer item of the agenda, especially with quality of service, the Commission has committed to tackling it to its logical conclusion.
“We have the capacity within the Commission, to measure key performance indicators for all operators and the entire length and breadth of the country, and we are able to say with certainty where these indicators are not being met with the standards set by the NCC.
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