DigitalSENSE Business News reports that the forum attended by the who-is-who in the industry including stakeholders and media, was organized by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and held at the Golden Gate Paradise, Ikoyi-Lagos.
Dr. Juwah highlighted to DigitalSENSE Business News some programmes of the commission, pointing out that overtime, the provision of telecommunication services in the country has evolved from the exclusive preserve of a state monopoly like the days of the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), managed then as an agency of government to the current private sector-led growth.
The world, Juwah told DigitalSENSE Business News, has taken voice telephony as basic while moving fast into the new world of data transmission for the provision of multi-media services and access to the internet.
According to him, broadband has been characterised by the speed at which the Internet highways transmit data from one end of the world to another or from one computer to another.
Juwah reiterated that as the industry evolves, ensuring effective competition amongst industry players, optimal quality of service provision to subscribers, providing the required framework for the development of the broadband ecosystem through supporting the provision of both fixed and mobile broadband infrastructures, became imperative, just as ensuring the implementation of frameworks that support the attainment of important security requirements of the country in the new digital world is pertinent.
NCC in the year just ended, he disclosed took a number of steps towards the attainment of these objectives and not limited to the introduction of Mobile Number portability (MNP); enforcement of Quality of Service (QoS) regulation; articulation of the Nigerian Open Access framework; and steps taken to make additional spectrum bands available for the industry.
Importance of MNP:
Elaborating further, Juwah said, the MNP scheme launched in Nigeria on April 22, 2013 removed one of the key restrictions on subscribers changing their network providers, thus making it absolutely possible for subscribers to move their mobile subscriptions from one operator to another without changing their mobile numbers.
This is in line with the objective of the Commission to continually empower subscribers and deepen competition in the telecommunication industry, whilst putting required framework in place for continuous improvement in quality of service delivery.
The MNP scheme has provided the required impetus for players within the industry to become more proactive and expedite resolution of subscriber issues whilst also launching new products aimed at retaining the loyalty of their subscribers.
He likened any technology-based service to a mechanism for continuous feedback from players and subscribers within the telecommunication industry to be incorporated into the MNP scheme to continually improve the MNP experience. Even as NCC is committed to ensuring all participating mobile operators in the scheme adhered to the MNP business rules agreed to by all players represented in the MNP steering group.
Delivery of QoS:
Still concerned on the state of the Quality of Service (QoS), the apex regulatory body for telecommunications, NCC led by Dr. Juwah, emphasized that the delivery of optimal quality of service by operators to subscribers is a key goal of the Commission. Operators, he insisted are obligated to provide quality services to their subscribers, as these services are paid for, in most cases on a pre-paid basis.
As said by him, the operating environment has been variously blamed for the challenge in consistently meeting the expectations of subscribers. Whilst these challenges like electrical power issues, multiple taxation, generator theft, fibre infrastructure damage and vandalisation as well as multiple regulations at various levels of government have been highlighted as the reason behind this, operators need to ensure more proactive measures in the operation and design of their networks are taken to ameliorate some of these issues as subscribers are, rightly so, interested in enjoying the services paid for without issues.
The Commission, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered, took steps to address these challenges with relevant agencies of government with the active support of the Honourable Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, adding that NCC has put in place a methodology for fairly and objectively assessing the QoS delivery from operators’ networks.
The Nigerian Open Access Model:
Juwah underscored the fact that Nigerian telecommunications industry is dominated by few vertically integrated players that have created infrastructures with duplications, which are being leveraged on to compete in the provision of broadband services.
These infrastructures, he said, are usually only available to new players in the broadband market at a premium as replication of the infrastructure is both capital intensive and has a long lead time for delivery. Stressing, this has led to unfavourable pricing of services in the market place which in-turn inhibits an increase in broadband penetration.
And in order to address these scenarios and open up the industry for effective competition in line with the Commissions objective, Dr. Juwah told DigitalSENSE Business News at the occasion that industry restructuring then became pertinent, which informed the articulation of the Nigerian Open Access Model.
This model, he said, is a key part of the Nigeria National Broadband Plan and to achieve the objectives, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that NCC has held several consultations to incorporate useful industry feedback into the framework; Divided the broadband infrastructure industry into three (3) layers namely the passive network, wholesale bandwidth services and retail service providers layers in that order.
In addition, he said that these has enabled NCC to properly map the fibre infrastructure in the country; Divided the country into seven (7) license areas for the provision of fibre infrastructure; and commenced the auction process for one (1) slot of 30 MHz in the 2.3 GHz for wholesale wireless access service provision.
The aforementioned, he said, are geared towards opening up the broadband sub-segment of the industry to ensure the benefits of increased broadband penetration accrue to the country.
Digital Migration:
Also, sharing what the Commission is doing in terms of ensuring Nigeria key into the global migration programme of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) by June 2015, Juwah noted that the migration of the broadcast industry from analog to digital means of transmitting their signals has presented an opportunity to free-up valuable frequency spectrum for use in the provision of services that will be most economically and socially valuable to the country.
With developments in technology, he said, the bandwidth requirement for the provision of broadcast content has reduced, which means capacity left un-used could be used for other purposes.
“This freeing up of spectrum bandwidth due to the migration from analog to digital techniques has led to the digital dividend in the 700 MHz band. There is also the freeing up of the 2.6 GHz spectrum band also planned auction and deployment of this for the provision of broadband access services once all the broadcast services on this band has been successfully migrated off the band. These bands are currently under the control of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC),” he explained.
However, Juwah stated that from the Nigerian National Broadband Plan, wireless broadband is a key driver towards the attainment of the broadband penetration objectives of government. As a result, the 700 MHz spectrum band will be available for auction for the provision of wireless broadband services when the band is freed up on the conclusion of the analog to digital migration of the broadcast industry which is scheduled to be completed in 2015.
Broadband for all:
This, he said, will provide players within the industry with the required spectrum holding to both cost effectively increase their wireless coverage as well as provide optimal broadband services to subscribers.
Although the benefits associated with broadband in developing countries remain enormous, it has to be understood that broadband for all is a medium to long term strategy and the main beneficiaries, in the short term, of the broadband revolution will be businesses. Attributing this to broadband networks’ need to generate traffic to lower their costs and increase their profitability, and in light of the fact that broadband is an ecosystem in which users play a central role, stimulating demand is very important.
Wrapping up:
In his conclusion, Dr. Juwah said that the increased expansion of telecommunication infrastructure and new ways of utilising these infrastructures to communicate has also regrettably created means for the criminally minded to use electronic methods in perpetrating their criminal acts.
Therefore, NCC, he said, will ensure that the security agencies continually get the required support in carrying out their legally assigned duties. Just as it’s committed towards ensuring a vibrant telecommunication industry that positively contributes to the socio-economic development of the country through the articulation and implementation of frameworks, regulations and policies towards this goal.
Looking at the report card of NCC under Dr. Juwah, so far, within the period under review, it would be a good assumption that NCC has done well in terms of policy pronouncements, whereas industry watchers are keen on how the implementation will play out in 2014.
So, keep tuned on this space.
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
Ayilara Sherif
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