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The Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are collaborating to review the 2000 Telecoms Policy.
This comes as the Commission plans quarterly disclosure of information on the quality performance of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Dr. Aminu Maida, made the disclosure at a media engagement yesterday, in Abuja, where he stated that the process of reviewing the policy had commenced.
“Since the National Telecom Policy 2000, you will be pleased to know that we have started engagements with the ministry to revise the telecom policy, because as per the act, the NCA 2003, we are to guide and provide input to the National Telecoms policy. But it’s driven by the ministry.
“That process has started and that was also contained in the Honorable Minister AbudzunTidjani’s strategic blueprint, which he released early when he assumed office.
“So, we need to let Nigerians know all our operators who is first, second, and third.
“And you know what that would do. The person who came last, will be in trouble with his board. He will have to go and explain to his board. Or it will be an opportunity for him to tell his board, I need that investment that you have been denying me.
“We want to complement it with an information disclosure approach as well to drive that competitiveness. So, that is why you’ve seen us increasingly releasing information, taking the bold step to make corrections to some of our data points, whether it’s the population rebasing we did, or posting in same linkage policy conclusion on the audit we did to adjust the numbers, which unfortunately led to one of the operators dropping significantly,” he said.
According to him, NCC’s approach moving forward would witness a lot of information disclosure, adding that by the end of this month or sometime early in September, there will be a release of a public map for network performance.
This, he noted, was based on “information that is aggregated from all of us as consumers.”
“So, all the performance data as you’re using your devices is uploaded to the network. So, this is independent data for you. It’s going to be aggregated and we’re going to put it on the map, which is going to be available publicly
“We’re going to be doing quarterly performance reports based on that data where we’re going to give an extensive analysis of how the networks perform on various indices–all based on real data.
“So state-by-state, there will be an analysis on various performance metrics.
He stated that corporate governance was key to enhanced performance.
“We looked at the indicators of good corporate governance, and then we looked at financial performance, service performance, service delivery performance, and regulatory compliance. The link was clear.
“So, corporate governance for us we see as a very strong tool to also use as part of our information disclosure and transparency approach to this industry,” he added.
On improved quality of service, he noted that “everybody is yearning for improved quality of service and I’ would just like to reassure you that we are working very very hard in very close collaboration with all stakeholders, the operators, the major ones, the MNOs.”
The NCC, he noted, had revised its quality of service guidelines, adding that it no longer just holds the mobile network operators accountable, adding that there are also the Tower Companies (TowerCos) that are not known by a many people, but who provide power and security.
The NCC EVC also stated that there is now a framework that is undergoing review to standardise the operations around top-ups and recharges.
The Head, Public Affairs Department, Mrs. NnenaUkoha, in her welcome address, said the media engagement between the commission and Journalists covering the NCC was to deepen their relationship.
The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, Freda Bruce-Bennett, in her presentation, educated Nigerians on how to manage data usage, such as, turning off autoplay on social media apps and limiting background data consumption, among others.
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