Etisalat: NCC board commends interagency relationship with CBN

The board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), under the Chairmanship of Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, has commended the cooperation between the telecoms regulator and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over Etisalat issue.   The board expressed its feelings towards the collaboration of the regulators at an emergency meeting held on Wednesday July 5, to […]

The board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), under the Chairmanship of Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, has commended the cooperation between the telecoms regulator and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over Etisalat issue.

 

The board expressed its feelings towards the collaboration of the regulators at an emergency meeting held on Wednesday July 5, to review the Etisalat issue in its entirety and also review the intervention made by the NCC Management.

 

It profoundly commended the NCC Management for its handling of the Etisalat issue till date, noting that it has hitherto had a three-fold concern.

 

“The board’s concern bothered on ensuring continuous service to the over 21 million Etisalat subscribers, safeguarding the employees, and stabilizing the telecom sector to ensure its contribution to GDP is not impacted and investment interest continues,” it stated on Thursday.

 

The Board also directed the NCC management to ensure at all times that telcos meet the financial and technical integrity standards expected of them.

 

It will be recalled that the NCC has been working in tandem with the CBN over the Etisalat crisis which started from the inability of the telecoms operator to repay its loan to a consortium of banks, a development that led to its takeover and restructuring.

 

Both the 21 million subscribers of the company and its employees have expressed the fears of facing chronic poor Quality of Service (QoS) and massive loss of job respectively.

 

The management of the NCC under the leadership of its Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO), Professor Umar Danbatta, has however succeeded in dispelling the fears of the concerned parties, assuring that both the network service and employees of Etisalat would be insulated from the shock of the trying time of the company.