NCC Advocates Effective Customer Care Services by Telecoms Operators

By Emmanuel Ugwu

Amid complaints that many consumers find it difficult to access the customer support services of telecoms operators, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has taken steps to take policy action and further regulatory intervention to protect consumers.

To this end the commission intends to generate such policy framework through the outcome of its Consumer Outreach Programmes. At the 63rd edition of the Consumer Outreach programme of the NCC held in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia state, the need for service providers to pay extra attention to the needs and concerns of consumers took the centre stage.

Johnson, Juwah Hail DigitalSENSE Africa on Internet Governance

Mrs. Omobola Johnson
Nigeria's Minister of 
Communications Technology

By Emma Okonji

DigitalSense Africa Media has been commended for its role in keeping Nigerians informed on latest development about internet governance through its yearly conferences.

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, gave the commendation during the 2014 edition of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum held in Lagos recently.

It was  hailed for consistency in hosting the annual Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) and the Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable conference.

Insurgency: Court okays suit seeking EFCC’s probe of N76bn CCTV project

By Lanre Adewole-Lagos

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, granted an exparte application seeking leave for an order of mandamus compelling the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the controversial $475 million (N76 billion) moribund CCTV project, awarded to ZTE Corporation by the Federal Government.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola gave the order after listening to the applicant,  Olugbenga Adeyemi, who sued as a concerned Nigerian.

Respondents in the suit are the EFCC, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Nigeria Police Force, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria Communication Commission, ZTE Corporation and Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited.

NCC Restates Its Commitment To Quality Telecom Service Delivery

Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, Executive
Commissioner, Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC)

Mr Okey Itanyi, Executive Commissioner, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has restated the agency’s commitment to ensuring quality telecom service delivery by operators.

The commissioner stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

He said the agency would no longer tolerate any operator or persons violating NCC’s Act or allow any operator to use illegal equipment that could disrupt service.

“We are committed to ensuring quality service delivery and protecting the interest of stakeholders – consumers, service providers, government.

“We are working with the operators to improve the quality of their services; we sanctioned some of them recently but we are looking forward to getting improved services,’’ Itanyi said.

NCC: Promoting operator-consumer interface

Written by Mathew Ayorinde

Many users of telecom services in Nigeria hold the belief that the general poor quality of services is a deliberate act on the part of the operators to rip-off subscribers and maximise profits. This has accounted for the trend whereby the average working-class citizen and entrepreneur own more than one mobile phone or multiple subscriber identification modules (sim cards), the number portability option notwithstanding.

NCC: Anticipating the broadband boom

Dr. Eugene Juwah
Executive Vice Chairman
NCC

By Okechukwu Okonta.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, has told the international community to expect a broadband boom in the Nigeria’s telecoms sector. He gave the promise during his presentation at the sub-Saharan Africa Regional Summit at the GSMA Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain. According to Juwah, the success attained with the voice services will be replicated in the Nigerian broadband market.

He feels sure that the telecom revolution phase of Nigeria’s development has passed and has to give way to the broadband revolution that will eventually impact positively in the lives of every Nigerian. He therefore told the audience to expect mobile broadband boom in Nigeria whose teledensity has grown from 400,000 telephone lines in 2001 to the 120 million subscribers (and still counting), representing a ratio of 0.04 percent and 86 percent teledensity in 1999 and 2012 respectively.

Can NCC extend a helping hand?

Written by Sopuruchi Nnaemeka

Survival of the fittest has gone beyond Darwin’s principles of natural adaptation to being the driving force of entrepreneurship.

Competition for scarce resources, which in this case are the factors of production - land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship has been quite exhausting for Nigeria’s small telecom companies.

This therefore calls for concerted effort on the part of the sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to device a survival strategy for small operators. Although this appeal may seem preposterous as this is in no way part of the commission’s mandate, it is nevertheless in good fate, considering how the sector has grown in leaps and bounds and how the fringe players could actually fill those gaps and plug the holes left by the big operators.

Telecoms Revolution: The Best Is Yet To Come

By Adebola Ojikutu

Since its inception, privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation in 1999, Nigeria’s telecom sector has made monumental progress and contributions to the nation’s economy. From a mere 1 percent and less than a million analogue lines as at 2001, there has evolved an escalation to about 170 million connected and 128 million active mobile and fixed telephone lines, bringing teledensity to about 91 percent of the total population.