Nigerian plan for telecom tariffs to vary by region

Telecommunications tariffs are set to differ in various parts of Nigeria in accordance with the ease of doing business, according to a proposed plan by operators.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) announced the decision at the Telecoms Stakeholders Summit the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organised in Lagos.

ALTON’s chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, noted that subscribers in the North East and those with multiple tax regimes, multiple regulations, as well as all “unwholesome” practices would pay higher tariffs.

Adebayo said subscribers in states like Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti and Akwa Ibom would pay less, because of their friendly telecoms policies.

He urged other state governments to emulate the example of Lagos State, which he says has come to realise that telecommunications is a socio-economic need rather than merely a source of revenue generation.

Adebayo stressed that the state had reduced the Right of Way charges from N6,000 to N500 per square metre of road.

source: www.itwebafrica.com

Nigerian telecom operators angered over NCC QoS plans

Plans by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to sanction its members for alleged poor quality network have been criticised by the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

The operators have rather insisted that the NCC should address lingering obstacles that stand in the way of better network performance instead of issuing threats.

The operators also said the lowering of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) approach adopted by the NCC was not the solution to tackling the problems.

ALTON chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, urged the NCC to ensure it removed all bottlenecks working against network expansion and service deliveries in the industry.

“Do not reduce KPIs but remove every obstacle and challenge that is working against us in the course of delivering better service quality to the good people of Nigeria, and see if we will not perform at best,” Adebayo stated.

He blamed the current poor state of telecoms services on excess demands from government agencies and described the demands as exorbitant.

He explained that the refusal of telecoms operators to yield to such demands has made government and even social ‘miscreants’ come hard on them, leading to work stoppages at sites at various times.

Adebayo also blamed the situation on willful destruction of telecoms facilities by Nigerians.

He argued that unless there was a law that declared telecoms infrastructure as critical national infrastructure that must be guarded, people would continue to destroy such material.

Nigerian plan for telecom tariffs to vary by region

Telecommunications tariffs are set to differ in various parts of Nigeria in accordance with the ease of doing business, according to a proposed plan by operators.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) announced the decision at the Telecoms Stakeholders Summit the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organised in Lagos.

ALTON’s chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, noted that subscribers in the North East and those with multiple tax regimes, multiple regulations, as well as all “unwholesome” practices would pay higher tariffs.

Adebayo said subscribers in states like Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti and Akwa Ibom would pay less, because of their friendly telecoms policies.

He urged other state governments to emulate the example of Lagos State, which he says has come to realise that telecommunications is a socio-economic need rather than merely a source of revenue generation.

Adebayo stressed that the state had reduced the Right of Way charges from N6,000 to N500 per square metre of road.

“This will enable us build a digital Lagos. The state will be ahead of other states.

source: www.itwebafrica.com

Nigerian plan for telecom tariffs to vary by region

Telecommunications tariffs are set to differ in various parts of Nigeria in accordance with the ease of doing business, according to a proposed plan by operators.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) announced the decision at the Telecoms Stakeholders Summit the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organised in Lagos.

ALTON’s chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, noted that subscribers in the North East and those with multiple tax regimes, multiple regulations, as well as all “unwholesome” practices would pay higher tariffs.

Adebayo said subscribers in states like Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti and Akwa Ibom would pay less, because of their friendly telecoms policies.

He urged other state governments to emulate the example of Lagos State, which he says has come to realise that telecommunications is a socio-economic need rather than merely a source of revenue generation.

Adebayo stressed that the state had reduced the Right of Way charges from N6,000 to N500 per square metre of road.

source:www.itwebafrica.com

Nigerian plan for telecom tarrif o vary by region

Telecommunications tariffs are set to differ in various parts of Nigeria in accordance with the ease of doing business, according to a proposed plan by operators.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) announced the decision at the Telecoms Stakeholders Summit the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organised in Lagos.

ALTON’s chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, noted that subscribers in the North East and those with multiple tax regimes, multiple regulations, as well as all “unwholesome” practices would pay higher tariffs.

Adebayo said subscribers in states like Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti and Akwa Ibom would pay less, because of their friendly telecoms policies.

He urged other state governments to emulate the example of Lagos State, which he says has come to realise that telecommunications is a socio-economic need rather than merely a source of revenue generation.

Adebayo stressed that the state had reduced the Right of Way charges from N6,000 to N500 per square metre of road.

source: www.itwebafrica.com

Nigeria truly gaint of Africa

Telecommunication is adjudged one of the major drivers in the economic development of any nation. It plays a key role in the development of every sector of the economy. It is vital in the development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), health, agriculture, works, education, commerce, industry as well as science and technology sectors among others.

In driving telecommunications, Nigeria through the regulatory body in the sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made giant strides which have set the country apart as truly the giant of Africa.

The executive vice chairman of the NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, at a forum held recently in Abuja, declared that Nigeria would remain a telecom investment haven as long as foreign and local investments into the booming telecommunications sector were duly protected by existing telecom laws.

The country's telecom laws, he explained, had remained the strength of the sector in the past 12 years of its liberalisation. He noted that the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA) 2003 has been the major source of the industry's success.

The NCA is largely regarded as one of the most progressive laws in the country. It gives the regulator absolute power, devoid of government or other external interferences to regulate the industry according to best global practices as enunciated by the ITU and other regional telecoms regulatory bodies.

According to Juwah, the power of the NCA guarantees a safe market for investors such that they can bring their money into Nigeria and be sure that the law is there to protect their investment.

source: www. allafrica.com

nigerians telecom engineers to get quality of service training

More than 50 engineers from Nigeria’s major telecommunications firms have signed up for training to enable them meet the ‘Quality of Service’ (QoS) mandates of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Backup Network, a local representative of Switzerland’s Ascom Network Testing, is conducting the training.

Engineers from network operators are planned to be trained on ‘best-in-class’ skills they need to boost service delivery for their company network subscribers.

Speaking at the formal commencement of the training programme in Lagos, Monday Ogbe, chief executive officer at Backup Networks Limited, said the QoS in Nigeria is far behind other countries.

He said that the telecoms operators were doing their best but that more still needed to be done.

Last year, the NCC fined four of the country’s largest mobile operators for poor QoS.

“Operators are doing everything they can to ensure that service is delivered to the subscribers because as long as the subscribers are not happy with the service delivery, it will be difficult for operators to recoup their investment. At the end of the day everybody loses,” he said.

Ogbe added, “The quality of experience tools that we are offering the operators will help them perceive the network exactly the way subscribers are experiencing service on the network and through that, they can see
exactly what the bottlenecks that are affecting the network performance are for them to make strategic adjustments where necessary.”

He said with the integration of new wireless transport technologies such as internet protocol transmission via 3G and LTE into the operator network, the complexity of network end-to-end network visibility has become key to ensuring acceptable customer satisfaction.

source: itwebafrica.com

telecoms industry an investment haven

The Broadband Commission (a joint initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) postulates that the Internet and other Information Communications Technology (ICT) platforms now constitute critical modern resources and are vital prerequisites for participation in today’s growing digital economy.

Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of NCC, had said the contribution of the Information and Communication Technology sector to the GDP was anticipated to rise to about 15 percent by 2015. He said this would be achieved by the government’s structured investment and regulatory intervention.

Since the introduction of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) in Nigeria, it has significantly impacted the economy in a variety of ways, enhanced personal and corporate communications and generally improved the quality of life across the country.

Nigeria’s teledensity

Latest data by regulator of the nation’s telecommunications industry says tele-density has increased from less than 63.11 percent by end of year 2010 to 85.25 percent in June 2013, which represents a 22.14 percent increase. In addition, active mobile subscriptions in Nigeria has grown to over 120 million in the last 12 years.

Teledensity is the percentage of connected lines in relation to the population in a given period of time, and its growth is proportional to the growth in telephone subscriber base.

The Commission said active telecoms subscriber base in the country peaked at 114.1 million as at the end of January 2013, an increase of 18.3 million lines or 19.1 percent, compared with the figure in the correspondent period of last year. According to the NCC, in 2012, the industry ended the year with combined subscriber base of 113.1 million up from 95.8 million in January, 2012.

Highlights of the latest industry data also reveals that telecoms firms continue to spend more on network upgrades to accommodate more subscribers and reduce teething challenges associated with quality of service.

Growing FDI

New Pyramid Research Report on Nigeria taking a five-year look at the country’s communications sector believes the fast-paced growth and the huge population, which exceeds 170.1million, will continue to make the country one of the most attractive markets in Africa and the Middle East.

The study, ‘Pyramid Perspective 2013: Top Trends in the Global Communications Industry’ provides information on top trends in telecoms landscape in Africa and Middle East (AME), Asian Pacific, Europe and Americas.

According to the study, eco nomic growth in emerging markets is expected to nearly quadruple the economic growth in developed markets. Telecom service revenue in emerging markets will increase five times faster than in developed markets.

The report sees massive growth and opportunities in the country’s telecom sector, particularly with the 2012 end subscription base of 113.1 million, which places Nigeria ahead of Egypt’s 95.5 million; and South Africa’s 71.8 million. Giving credence to the report’s assertion, the latest data published by the NCC puts the telecom subscriber base at over 120 million.

source: businesstodayonline.com

NCC threatens telecom bodies over substandard infrastructure

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has threatened to punish telecommunication companies that use substandard infrastructure.

Speaking at a workshop in Lagos, NCC executive vice chairman, Eugene Juwah, said that the commission is aware of the proliferation of substandard phones and other equipment by “unpatriotic people” in the industry.

Represented by Dr. Balarabe Sani, the NCC director for technical standard and network Integrity, the NCC executive said that the regulatory body plans to implement “proper” sanctions against such companies that engaged in the illegal act.

“The use of non-approved equipment types is not only detrimental to human health but also contributes to the poor quality of service in the industry,” said Sani.

He said it was a punishable offence to import or sale communications equipment prior to obtaining a type approval certificate from the commission.

NCC organised the Thursday workshop in Lagos to explore the telecommunication equipment type approval.

The organisation said the aim of the event was to inform and educate stakeholders and the general public on the need to ensure that all telecom equipment used in the local market are fully approved by the commission to ensure safety and compliance with international standards.

Meanwhile, officials said the NCC has strengthened compliance monitoring and enforcement of its activities by creating a fully-fledged department headed by a director.

“This is aimed at improving our surveillance activities and to ensure full compliance to standards by all stakeholders,” Sani said.

Juwah also announced that NCC would soon review the costs payable for equipment type approval (ETA).

source: itwebafrica.com