The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),says it has  improved access to broadband for over 80 million Nigerians through the implementation of  National Broadband Plan (2020-2025)

It also  targets the provision of Point of Broadband Access (PoA) in all the 774 local government areas (LGAs) of the country within the plan period.

Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),  Prof.Umar Garba Danbatta,disclosed these while receiving a delegation from Autoridade Reguladora Nacional (ARN), the Telecom National Regulatory Authority of Guinea-Bissau, who were on a week-long benchmarking visit to the Commission in Abuja.

Danbatta stated that challenges remain in the process, but observed that NCC is committed to addressing such challenges as Right of Way (RoW) issue, multiple taxation, vandalism of telecom infrastructure, among others, confronting the licensees as they roll out services.

He said in order  to  further drive digital inclusion, the commission conducted a study to determine areas where there are access gaps in the country.

“We identified 217 clusters of access gaps and today, we have ensured more Nigerians are digitally-included by reducing the number of access gaps to 114 currently, while more measures are being taken to further reduce the access gaps, thereby deepening digital inclusion.

Danbatta said through his agency’s various regulatory efforts, “Nigeria’s telecoms sector had reached an all-time-high, basic internet subscription of 154 million; over 87 million broadband subscriptions, representing 45.93 per cent broadband penetration; over 207 million voice subscriptions with teledensity standing at 108.94 per cent as at October, 2020.”

He also shared his experiences on some of the regulatory models, approaches and best practices being implemented by the Commission in promoting a stable telecoms sector and accelerating digital inclusion in Nigeria with Guinea Bissau delegation.

The delegation was in the Commission to gain insights into NCC’s regulatory template as part of the exchange to build stronger bilateral relations with the Commission in the area of telecommunications regulation.

 Danbatta, who is also the Chairman of the West African Telecommunication Regulatory Assembly (WATRA),said  the Nigerian Communications Commission has been recognised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as Africa’s foremost regulatory organisation and has over the years received regulators from across Africa and beyond whose mission is to understudy the Commission.

He recalled the strong support to Nigeria by Guinea Bissau during the recently concluded election for the position of Executive Secretary of WATRA and the chairmanship of the regional body, noting that the benchmarking visit underscores the cordial relationship, mutual cooperation and collaboration between both countries.

“The 16 members of the regional organization share a common vision in ensuring that the citizens are not digitally excluded and are cooperating to ensure that access to information and communication technology services are not only ubiquitous, but that they are available and affordable through effective national and regional policies”, Danbatta said.

Danbatta assured of plans for the Executive Secretary of WATRA, Aliu Aboki, to visit the 16 member countries of the Assembly for the purposes of interacting and engaging with the member countries in order to build a common front to galvanise the development of the telecommunications ecosystem in the West African sub-region.

“So, we hope this level of collaboration at the level of WATRA, will be strengthened, so that together, we can act in a manner that other parts of Africa can be able to copy from us.

“It is an excellent regulatory model that we are working together and I solicit your support and that of other member countries in making the visit of the 16 member countries by the Executive Secretary a huge success,” Danbatta urged the delegation.

The Senate has given  the federal government the go-ahead to approve the deployment of the 5G network in Nigeria.

The development followed  the consideration of the report of its Joint Committees on Communications, Science and Technology, ICT and Cybercrimes, and Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases.

The upper chamber adopted the Joint Committee’s recommendations which were outcomes of investigation into the status of 5G Network in Nigeria and its technological impact on Nigerian citizens.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who  tendered the report in the   chamber, said the technological impact of 5G will revolutionize Nigerians’ way of life

She explained that the decision to recommend the deployment of the 5G technology was based on information provided by Government establishments such as the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, the Nigerian Communications Commission, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the National Information Technology Development Agency etc, and other telecoms professional organisations such as the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Global System of Mobile Communications Association.”

The report revealed that though no license has been issued to any Mobile Number Operator on commercial basis, government needs to “still observe the trend of 5G deployments around the globe and engage in extensive sensitization of the public through all channels before commencement of commercial deployments in the country.”

The lawmakers urged relevant government agencies to put the necessary infrastructure and technology in place for its eventual deployment.

They also called on the federal government to ensure that global standards for the deployment of 5G technology are strictly adhered to, while looking out for lessons learnt by countries that have already deployed in order to guide our own deployment.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),has expressed its commitment to protect the interest of of telecommunication consumers and promote quality services in the sector.

The agency’s assurance came on the heels of its revelation that  it resolved 99.2 per cent of service-related complaints received from telecom consumers across the major network operators in Q1, 2021.

The  first quarter of 2021 Report on Complaint Management issued by the Consumer Affairs Bureau of the Commission quoted that  a total of 3,019 consumer complaints were received from four complaint channels established by the commission as compared to 2,854 complaints received in the Q1, 2020.

The consumer complaint channels include the commission’s contact centre, through which the toll-free number 622 is managed, NCC Consumer Portal, NCC social media platforms and written complaints.

Of the 3,019 consumer complaints, 2,995 consumer complaints, representing 99.2 per cent, were successfully resolved while only 24, representing 0.8 per cent, which were escalated to service providers, are pending resolution from the respective service providers in line with the revised Consumer Complaint/Service Level Agreement (CC/SLA) of 2019.

According to breakdown of the consumer complaints received during  the period in view, 2,759 (91.4 per cent) came through the NCC Contact Centre; 188 (6.2 per cent) were received via the NCC Consumer Portal; 50 (1.7 per cent) complaints came to the Commission through its various social media platforms, while 22 (0.7 per cent) were written complaints.

Per  breakdown by service providers’ customers, the report said  1,261 (51.8 per cent) of the total complaints were lodged by MTN customers, 973 representing 32.2 per cent relate to Airtel subscribers, 549 (18.2 per cent) were accounted for by Globacom subscribers; 179 (5.9 per cent) by 9Mobile customers, while the remaining 52 complaints came from customers of other licensees.

On a month-on-month basis, 971 complaints were received in January, 1,039 in February and 1,009 in March. The report also shows that issues related to billings, quality of service/experience for voice as well as quality of service/experience for data were the three topmost complaint types from telecom consumers in the period under review.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, promised that the agency  will continue to explore new initiatives to strengthen the existing consumer complaints management process while ensuring prompt and satisfactory resolution of all complaints.

He  advised the consumers to continue to take advantage of the various channels made available by the Commission, including the 622 toll-free consumer complaints line, the Commission’s consumer web portal on its website and other social media channels to promptly lodge their complaints in the event of service dissatisfaction.

“NCC’s actions in this regard are in line with its mandate to protect and defend the rights and interests of the consumer, and to give concrete expression to its faith in the consumer as the lifeblood of the telecoms sector,” Danbatta said.

Danbatta expressed  satisfaction with the report and  emphasised that the commission will remain committed, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to continually improve quality of service both for voice and data services, assuring consumers of NCC’s readiness to always defend their rights and interests.

Foreigners not staying in Nigeria for up to two years do not need a National Identification number to register SIM cards, the Nigerian Communications Commission has said.

The regulatory body said this in its Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration.

It said; “Foreigners validly transiting through Nigeria or are employed in or reside in Nigeria for less than 24 months are exempted from the mandatory use of NIN requirement.

“Persons in this category need to provide justification that they will be residing in Nigeria for less than two years.”

However, NIN is compulsory for foreigners who have legal residency, or those who have lived in Nigeria for two years and above.

“NIN is mandatory for foreigners with legal residency status or those living in Nigeria for two years and above. For those who do not already have a NIN, operators will capture the resident for NIN as part of the enrolment process, upon presentation of resident permit.

“Foreigners with visitor’s visas (with visa less than two years) do not require a NIN. Operators will capture the following on their records; – International passport bio-data page and visa page.

“Foreigners with diplomatic visas (including family diplomatic visas) will also require a NIN for their personal telephone lines if they are staying in Nigeria for two or more years.

“Those staying less than two years will require the following for registration of their personal telephone lines: international passport bio-data page and letter from embassy indicating that their stay is for less than two years.

“For embassies and diplomatic missions: The data page containing the passport number of the diplomatic passport of the Head of Mission/Embassy along with a Letter of Request signed by the ambassador or its equivalent for registration of the official telephone lines of the embassy /mission in Nigeria shall be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for verification and confirmation and registration of the SIMs;  SIM cards of the diplomatic missions are to be linked with a Corporate Diplomatic Identification Number, which will be unique to each diplomatic mission.

“Each mission will also be responsible for managing the lines and allocating them internally.”

It added that the Head of Mission would serve as the Telecom Master or Point of contact for the mission.

Airtel has announced that it  generated total revenue of $422 million in Nigeria for Q1 2021,representing  a 23.9% rise from $377 million in  the first quarter of last year.

The development  makes  the company the telecom giant’s biggest market for the period in question,a report said.

Airtel recorded more revenue in Nigeria than in the East African countries where it operates. In East Africa, Airtel is present in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Airtel recorded an increase in its data and mobile money subscribers between the first quarter of 2021.

 Airtel records massive profit in Q1 2021 and 6.9% subscriber growth .Comparing revenue from the first quarter of 2020 to that of this year, Airtel saw a massive increase in profit by 21.7%.

But,a constant currency change puts the revenue growth at 15.4%. The telco saw a profit of $1.03 billion, while that of 2020 was $899 million.

The report showed that voice still raked in the highest profit of $547 million, 12.8% (constant currency) more than last year’s.

Data and mobile money recorded increases of 31.7% and 38.7% from Q1 of 2020, respectively.

In terms of subscribers, Airtel’s customers grew by a 6.9% growth from Q1 2020. Its total subscriber base grew from $110.6 million in Q1 2020 to $118.2 million in Q1 2021.

The increase in data subscribers led to a rise in revenue. Airtel increased its data subscribers by 14.5%, putting the number of data subscribers at 40.6 million, 5.2 million more than 3.4 million in Q1 2020.

Airtel’s Mobile Money accounted for $110 million in revenue, the least profit. However, it is higher than the $83 million of Q1 2020. The mobile money customer base also increased from 18.3 million in Q1 2020 to 21.7 million in Q1 2021, an 18.5% increase.