Assessing Telecoms in Nigeria: 2010 – 2014

The thumbs up so far received by the NCC, especially following the rebasing of the Nigerian economy which shows that the telecommunications industry has made positive impacts on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other sectors of the economy is the result of policy initiatives enunciated in Dr. Juwah’s six-point agenda which he unfolded […]

The thumbs up so far received by the NCC, especially following the rebasing of the Nigerian economy which shows that the telecommunications industry has made positive impacts on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other sectors of the economy is the result of policy initiatives enunciated in Dr. Juwah’s six-point agenda which he unfolded on assumption of duty on July 29, 2010, and his constant vigilance that the agenda is implemented.
The NCC six-point agenda, set up by Dr. Juwah, which serves as a roadmap for optimal result include consolidating the progress made before he came to office, taking drastic measures to improve quality, improving competition among telecommunications players, improving the telecommunications, regulator’s presence in the international space, providing diversified choices for consumers at good quality and favourable price and enhancing broadband implementation.
The NCC has, in the past four years, implemented various policies, including putting in place measures to address some of the challenges that tend to affect service delivery. The achievements of the telecommunications regulatory body can be seen in several quarters. For example, teledensity rose from 63 per cent in 2010 to over 90 per cent in 2014.
The adoption of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), an initiative that allows subscribers the freedom to move their telephone numbers to any network of choice in search of better service quality, is one of the efforts of the NCC that is worth acknowledging. The launch of this service in Lagos in April 2013 by the NCC was greeted with endorsement by stakeholders, including telecommunications operators and subscribers, who described it as a game changer that would not only provide choices for the subscribers, but would also afford them the opportunity to get improved service delivery which obviously led operators to scramble to invest more on their networks in order to remain in business.
There has been increased telephony penetration recorded in the past four years, and this has also contributed immensely to the Nigerian economy in terms of GDP. Dr. Juwah is quoted as saying, “We have increased it from five per cent as announced recently during the rebasing of the economy.
Finally, looking at investment in the sector, we increased it from $18billion in 2010 to more than $32billion today. The sector has provided the most stable jobs, and as investments grew in the past four years, more jobs, both direct and indirect, have been created and are still being created.
Also, the NCC also undertook the review of the old interconnect rates, following their expiration in 2013. Interconnect rates are the charges which one operator charges another for terminating calls on its network. One of the fundamental premises for open and fair competition is an effective interconnect regime.
In recognition of the fact that there are late entrants, and the commencement of the unified service licensing regime to create an enabling environment for healthy competition in the telecommunications markets, the NCC adopted the asymmetric rates for the new interconnect regime.  
In the past four years, the NCC has created a level playing field in the industry by addressing the issue of dominant operators that were on the verge of swallowing the smaller operators. While acknowledging the importance of the big operators, the NCC put some limitations in place in order to ensure that their dominance would not abridge healthy competition in the sector.
One of the achievements of the NCC is the initiative it put in place in setting of price cap on local SMS at N4.00 with effect from February 5, 2013. This was a 60 per cent reduction from the former price of N10.00 for off-net and N5 per SMS for on-net text messages. Subscribers have been full of gratitude to the NCC for this act.
The NCC, in February, this year, licensed 30MHz in the 2.3 gigahertz spectrum to a wholesale company, all for the purpose of enhancing quality service. The national regulatory body has also announced plans to license 2.6 gigahertz spectrum to investors.
Also, for a decent competitive environment to thrive, the NCC is putting in place the unveiling of a corporate governance code for the telecommunications players. The unveiling of the industry-specific code of corporate governance is intended to enthrone global best practices among the board of telecommunications operators.  
In line with the six-point agenda of Dr Juwah, the NCC has consistently driven broadband penetration in the country. The NCC is encouraging investment into the country, licensing more spectrums to the operators to drive broadband and go into partnership with stakeholders so that challenges facing deployment are tackled.
The latest news from the NCC is that it has begun the process for the auctioning of frequency spectrum licenses in the 2.6GHz band, as part of measures to launch Nigeria into the era of broadband revolution. Two infrastructure companies, out of the seven companies, will be licensed in the next two weeks, to provide broadband infrastructure in the country. The two companies will be sited in Lagos and in one of the states in the North-Central.
The Nigeria Telecommunication industry has remained the fastest growing market in the world for five consecutive years now. The industry has witnessed a lot of policy initiatives, which have continued to make positive impact with multiplier effect on other sector of the economy. Within the past four years, telecommunications subscriber base has risen from 88 million people in 2010 to over 130 million in July 2014.
Although the NCC has made many achievements in the telecommunications industry within the past four years, it has also come under challenges. This is pronounced in the area of service quality. Some of these challenges include persistent drop calls, poor voice quality, call diversion, delay in text message delivery, inability to top up airtime, etc. Effort by the regulator to address these has continued by way of fines, in addition to holding consultative meetings with operators now and then.
Ndukwe wrote this piece from Abuja.