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The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta has said despite the pandemic and the lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus, the NCC did not relent to ensure that the quality of telecoms services is sustained.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Danbatta, who stated this on Friday at the first virtual edition of the telecoms consumer parliament (VTCP), said the Commission took some critical steps in conjunction with the supervising Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy towards mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on service delivery by the network operators.
Recall that in the wake of the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, the federal government announced different categories of lockdown measures, which made the mobility and social life of citizens hindered, necessitating the need for individuals, businesses and public institutions to rely more on telecommunications to constantly keep in touch with their relatives, friends and more importantly, for running their daily economic activities.
Educational activities also increasingly went online following the closing down of schools, while shopping and other activities also migrated online. With all these activities carried out through the internet, network usage is skyrocketing, with many network operators reporting a large increase in data usage. Likewise, the volume of voice calls is increasing by the day.
Some of the critical steps Danbatta said were emplaced to ensure service delivery is sustained were the approval of resource sharing among network operators and the development of e-platforms where all licensing requests, consumer complaints and base transceiver station (BTS) investigation requests are channelled, and also providence of designated e-mail addresses to be used for such requests throughout the pandemic period.
“The Commission also secured Right of Passage (RoP) for all telecommunications officials and staff for easy movement during the lockdown and movement restriction in order to be able to service their base stations and keep them active to provide services for telecom consumers who increasingly rely on their networks to work from home. In the same vein, the Commission also secured Right of Passage for suppliers that are involved in supplies of fuels, food and other essential services to telecom operators during the total lockdown,” Danbatta said.
The NCC EVC/CEO further stated that with the intervention of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, State Governors are now aligning their Right of Way charges to N145 as approved by the Federal Economic Council (FEC), reducing below N145 per linear of fibre laid by the operators in their States.
“Other State Governors pegged their RoW charges below the N145 set by the FEC while some state governors have totally waived RoW charges in their states. All these are aimed at encouraging network operators to deploy telecoms/broadband infrastructure faster in their states with a view to deepening digital access.
“As Covid-19 evolves, a new world order where more activities are conducted online and robust broadband access is central is emerging. In effect, most of the State Governors have appreciated the centrality of robust broadband infrastructure as work-from-home measures by government persists.
“The Commission is hopeful that with the reduction in RoW, which will automatically result in reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX) by the network operators, telecom companies will sooner or later reciprocate the gesture by making their services in particular, data services more affordable to Nigerians,” Danbatta said.