Highlights From Dr. Aminu Maida’s (EVC, NCC) Remarks At The GSMA Launch of the Nigeria Digital Economy Report

1. The Commission has embarked upon a number of advocacy initiatives to address long-term challenges in the sector, including:

– Advocacy for the designation of Communications Infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure to ensure their protection and resilience;

– The Commission vide its advocacy has succeeded in persuading (6) six states to waive their Right of Way charges. Adamawa is the latest state to waive RoW. A significant number of states have also adopted the harmonized charge of N145 per linear meter.

– Advocacy is ongoing with the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms towards addressing multiple taxation issues and streamlining the tax regime for the telecoms sector in Nigeria.

2. A crucial regulatory innovation that the Commission is taking is adoption of a Data-Centric approach to regulatory functions. Recall that one of the drivers of Dr. Maida’s leadership is Data-Centricity! The Commission has developed a Data Collection Framework which guides the collection of data on issues such as Quality of Service, Consumer complaints among others.

This data is providing the Commission with the requisite insights to make timely, optimal and informed regulatory decisions.

Through analysis of performance data submitted by operators, the Commission has been able to narrow down on some of the issues affecting Quality of Service, and is addressing this with operators.

With Data available, the Commission has also been able to establish that Tower Sites that use renewable energy solutions perform better than those using fossil energy sources.

Through this Data centric approach NCC has been able to get insights from across the entire value chain to identify problem areas for optimal and timely interventions for improving the overall user experience.

3. The Commission is undertaking a review of its Regulatory Instruments and licensing framework to ensure that they are in line with the current realities. E.g.: Review of Quality of Service Regulations to incorporate KPIs for 5G and include KPIs for the Colocation Service Providers (TowerCos).