NCC leads Airtel, LASIMRA, others to telecoms seminar’16

ITRealms:

The leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed to lead telecom sector stakeholders to the third quarterly seminar being organised by the Nigeria Information and Communication Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), reports ITRealms.

President, NITRA, Mr. Emma Okonji disclosed this Friday to ITRealms, saying that the programme has received sponsorship support from Airtel Nigeria, and will bring together industry stakeholders to brainstorm on the theme: “The Impact of Over-Regulation of Telecoms Industry on Service Quality.”

The event, he said, has been scheduled to hold inside Osun Hall of the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on Friday, September 16, 2016 starting by 10 a.m.

Also expected at the seminar, he said, include teams from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) as well as representation from the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) and Zinox Group, to name a few.

Okonji also said, already, most industry stakeholders have confirmed attendance at the one-day forum to be chaired by the chairman of ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo. While the General Manager, Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Authority (LASIMRA), Mr. Babajide Odekunle would keynote at the event with Airtel Nigeria giving another paper on the theme.

As said by him, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, would give an overall review of the telecoms industry, the value that the sector has added to the Nigerian economy, as well and the effect of multiple regulations on service quality.

“The Acting Director-General of NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji; President of ATCON, Engr. Olusola Teniola and Chairman, Zinox Group, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, among other stakeholders, are expected at the seminar,” he said.

Telecoms subscribers, he noted, are reportedly losing N750 million annually to intermittent poor service quality such as call-drops, unfair billings, charges on Value Added Service (VAS) not subscribed to, among others.

“Nigeria telecoms industry has grown significantly in the past 15 years in such a way that it is now regarded as one of the fastest-growing in the world. Nigerians telecoms has, indeed, witnessed exponential growth in the last 13 years moving from active subscriber base of 400,000 with teledensity of 0.004 per cent to active subscriber base of 149.8 million with teledensity of 107.01 per cent, as of June 2016 statistics,” Okonji said.

He noted that despite the growth, more conducive regulatory environment needed to be provided for the network so as to be able to deliver quality service for their growing subscriber base.

“It is our belief that the forum will provide opportunities for industry stakeholders to dialogue on regulatory challenges facing the operators and their effects on the service delivery to the subscribers. It will also help in offering workable solutions for effective industry regulation that will bring about greater growth of the over $38 billion telecoms industry,” he said.

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