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| Hon. Itanyi |
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has told the Senate to
put an end to any consideration of the proposed bill on the Nigerian
Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) being peddled before the National Assembly
currently.
NCC also says the bill contradicts existing telecommunications
laws, and would be inimical to the stability of the sector if passed into law.
NCC’s view was articulated by its Executive Commissioner,
Stakeholder Management, Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, as his submission to the joint
public hearing by the Senate Committee on Communications and Science and
Technology in Abuja Monday.
He said the Commission opposes in its entirety, the passage of the
Bill by the National Assembly.
“The Bill serves to add nothing positive to the current state of
the industry but will destabilize and distort the achievements which the
industry has recorded in terms of regulatory certainty, investor encouragement
and healthy competition,” he declared.
Aligning NCC position to the recent rejection clamour by the
Ministry of Communications and other stakeholders, Mr. Itanyi said a privatized
NigComSAT could seek any license it wishes to operate to provide whatever
service it intends to provide from the regulator and that currently, the
company is a licensee of the NCC, wondering what difference the bill will
deliver to the company.
He pointed out that the bill which is already interpreted as a bad
omen for the telecommunications industry, amounts to the National Assembly
issuing telecom licenses to government agencies, against the provisions of the
Nigerian Communications Act 2003, thus its opposed by the Communications
Technology Ministry, which supervises NigComSAT, as well as the Ministry of
Science and Technology.
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| Rufai, MD, NigComSAT |
Mr. Itanyi also submitted that some of the Bill that are
contradictory to 2003 Act from same National Assembly, and indicated that the
provision on it for NigComSAT to manage and operate frequency bands as
well as designing and operation of communications satellite with respect to
telephony, television, radio, broadcasting, broadband internet services,
navigation, global positioning system or any other activities or facilities of
like nature, together with the transmitters, teleports, transponders, earth
stations, terminal, antenna and frequency band is an overwhelming
contradiction.
“Section 121 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, already
provides that ‘Notwithstanding the provision of any other written law but
subject to the provisions of this Act, the Commission shall have the sole and
exclusive power to manage and administer the frequency spectrum for the
communications sector and in that regard to grant licenses for and regulate the
use of the said frequency,” he said.
Commissioner Itanyi noted the provision that empowers NigComSAT to
provide for the bandwidth requirements of government agencies on commercial
basis also contradicts the provision of Section 121 of NCA Act, while also
conflicting with government’s policies on Space development and ICT growth.
As said by him, “By placing the company as both the regulator and
operator, the Bill has the potential of distorting the market, discouraging
competition and stifling consumer choice of service in the telecommunications
industry, and is contradiction of section 90 of NCA 2003 that gives the
Commission the exclusive competence over competition matters in the Nigerian
Communications market”, he said.
Further, he said that some of the provisions including the section
that would allow NigComSAT to operate its current services on commercial basis,
like transponder leasing, is trite as NigComSAT currently operates those
services as a licensee of the NCC, while the provision that it would engage in
activities that would enhance the space industry in Nigeria is vague and subject
to several interpretations by the NCA 2003.
Mr. Itanyi also pointed out that the NigComSAT Bill is in conflict
with the Public Procurement Act 2007, which provided for approval conditions
and limits for Ministries, Departments and Agencies on one hand, and duplicates
the core functions of the National Agency for Space Research and Development
Agency, NARSDA, thereby contradicting NARSDA 2010 Act. This he said, is an
invitation to multiplicity of regulations and legislations.
The Commission is also vehemently opposed to the section that
intends to empower NigComSAT with the duty of international cooperation on
communications satellite technology, including but limited to membership of the
International Telecommunications Union, ITU, arguing that this section
contradicts the provisions of the existing laws that empowers the Commission to
perform those duties.
Mr. Itanyi also submitted that some of the provisions in the bill
regarding the activities of NigComSAT corporation would also require the type-approval
certificate of the Commission, as well as Sales and Installation License, hence
would amount to a duplication of regulations in the country. In the section
that gives powers to NigComSAT to purchase or otherwise acquire or takeover all
or any of the assets, business, company, firm or person in furtherance of any
business engaged in by the Corporation, Mr. Itanyi said “this provision gives
unlimited, inequitable, and unfettered powers to the corporation, which makes
it ambiguous and subject to many interpretations.
In the section which indicated that NigComSAT would work in
collaboration with other government agencies, such as the Universal Provision
Fund (USPF), Mr. Itanyi alerted the Senators to the fact that the USPF is an
organ established by the NCA 2003, and funded by the Nigerian Communications
Commission and should not be isolated in contradiction to existing laws as the NigComSAT
bill intends.
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