…As NCC, Danbatta, Others Receive Awards.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba
Danbatta, listed the digital frontiers while delivering a paper titled:
‘Telecommunications in Nigeria: The Next Frontier’ at the 20th anniversary of
the telecommunications revolution in Nigeria organised recently by Compact
Communications Limited, at the Muson Centre, Lagos.
At the event, the Commission received a recognition award
“in appreciation of its institutional support to the growth and development of
telecoms in Nigeria”. The EVC of NCC also received a separate award “in
appreciation of his immense contribution to the growth and sustenance of
telecoms development in Nigeria.”
Represented at the forum by NCC’s Director, Public Affairs,
Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Danbatta said in the last 20 years, the sector has
witnessed significant growth in subscribers, internet usage, investment,
innovation, contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and multiplier effects
of the growth in other sectors of the economy.
Danbatta stated that in collaboration with relevant
stakeholders, NCC is driving new frontiers aimed at ensuring consistent growth
of the nation’s digital economy sphere.
According to him, as a foremost telecommunications
regulatory agency and consistent with NCC mandate as stipulated in the Nigerian
Communications Act (NCA) 2003, and other guiding legislations, the NCC has been
at the forefront of leveraging latest technologies and accelerating broadband
infrastructure deployment to put Nigeria on the global map of the digital
economy experience.
In this regard, he said NCC was working to ensure increased
broadband penetration in line with Federal Government’s targets as contained in
the Nigerian National Broadband Pan (NNBP), 2020-2025. The NNBP was launched by
President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2020.
Danbatta explained that the NNBP has a target to achieve 70
per cent broadband penetration among 90 per cent of the country's population.
The Plan also seeks to achieve broadband speeds of 15Mbp and 25Mbps in rural
and urban areas respectively over the next five years.
“The Commission is also driving various initiatives aimed at
facilitating the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) Mobile Technology in
Nigeria.
Prof. Danbatta emphasized that a robust broadband
infrastructure will play a key role in fast-tracking the effective deployment
of 5G technology and facilitate availability of services associated with 5G
technology.
“Already, the Commission is set to auction some spectrum
slots in 3.5GHz band and we have confirmed 97 per cent readiness for 5G
deployment in this regard. This is in line with the marching order given to us
by Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali
Ibrahim (Pantami), following approval by the Federal Executive Council to
proceed on our 5G Deployment Plan.
The Information Memorandum (IM) for the auction had earlier
been shared with stakeholders and we are set to auction the 5G spectrum before
the end of the year,” he said.
The NCC Chief Executive also said one of the initiatives
being emplaced by the Commission to enhance the attainment of the next frontier
for telecom development in Nigeria and the nation's economic growth, is the
ongoing review of licensing structure in the sector. This is to align telecoms
licensing process with the wide range of technological advances, convergence of
technologies and services shaping global telecoms space.
Danbatta said the Commission has also finalized review of
its Spectrum Trading Guidelines (STG). The STG, according to the EVC, allows
spectrum resource in-country to be traded on the Secondary Market through
Transfer, Sharing or Leasing (TSL) once the stipulated regulatory conditions
have been complied with.
Danbatta declared that NNBP 2020-2025 requires that these
Guidelines be reviewed to ensure that un-utilised spectrum is fairly traded to
facilitate rollout by other operators among others. The Guidelines will,
therefore, facilitate the country’s yearning for ubiquitous broadband access in
line with the economic agenda of the Federal Government.
As vehicles for implementation of the NNBP, the National
Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030) and other similar digital
economy policies, Danbatta said the NCC has unveiled its Strategic Management
Plan (SMP) 2020-2024 and the Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), 2021-2025, which will
ultimately drive the next frontier of growth in the telecoms sector. He said
the two strategic plans embody critical areas on which the Commission intend to
focus toward driving the implementation of the digital economy agenda of the
government.
He stated that the two regulatory documents (the SMP and
SVP) encapsulate the totality of regulatory and policy initiatives, designed to
re-invent and transform the telecom ecosystem, within the context of
regulation, to a greater height. He added that this, to the Commission, is the
next frontier for the sector.
“While emerging technologies are disruptive by nature,
Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind digitally and this explains Commission's
engagement with developmental regulations for the industry and we are irrevocably
committed to this,” he said.
Other individuals bestowed with recognition awards at the
event include Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; and the former EVC/CEO of
NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, both for pioneering the Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) revolution of 2001.
The Zenith Bank also received an award for being at the
forefront of leveraging technology for powering financial services delivery.
Among the journalists who received awards is a veteran ICT
journalist/Publisher, E-World News, Aaron Ukodie.
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