Data Users Vs NCC’s new price

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Much we talk about the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) new price for data which will surely impact negatively on the data users across the country.

Amehnews recalled that the Commission wrote to the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on November 1, 2016 on the determination of an interim price floor for data services after the stakeholder’s consultative meeting of October 19, 2016.

And later NCC said “Following the concerns that visited the directive to introduce price floor for data segment of the telecommunications sector beginning from December 1, 2016, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has suspended any further action in that direction.

The decision to suspend this directive was taken after due consultation with industry stakeholders and the general complaints by Consumers across the country.

The Commission has weighed all of this and consequently asked all operators to maintain the status quo until the conclusion of study to determine retail prices for broadband and data services in Nigeria.

The decision to have a price floor was primarily to promote a level playing field for all operators in the industry, encourage small operators and new entrants.”

Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, has his own plan if the disclosure on Thursday during his induction as a Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Engineering (NAE) saying  the commission had completed a new framework that would give telecommunication companies the opportunity to participate in spectrum sharing.

“With the new framework, you can transfer, lease and share your spectrum.

“These recent achievements of the commission will ensure optimum utilisation of spectrum,” he said.

The NCC boss told newsmen on the sidelines of the vevrnt that the recognition by NAE would spur the commission to double efforts in boosting the Nigerian economy.

“This recognition will be a testimony of our relevance not only within Nigerian universities but across borders,” he said.

The outgoing President of NAE, Prof. Oluwaseun Maduka, said that the occasion should remind those in the academy to ensure advancement of engineering education and practice.

Maduka said that the advancement would be achievable through continuous learning and strategic collaborations with relevant professional associations and industry.

She said that the academy should be proactive by tackling emerging socio-economic challenges in the country as regards engineering and technology.

Maduka added that the academy should be able to anticipate challenges and proffer appropriate solutions.

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NAN reports that NAE was incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee in September 1997, for the purpose of promoting excellence in technological and engineering training and practice to ensure technological growth and economic development of Nigeria.

In the same vein, NCC has begun the process for the transfer of the licence of Visafone Communications Limited to digital mobile operator, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.

It was gathered that the transfer of Visafone’s license would also involve the transfer of its frequencies to MTN.Towards this goal, the regulatory agency confirmed through Tony Ojobo, its spokesperson, that it would hold a public forum in Abuja next Monday on the transfer of the resources belonging to Visafone to MTN.

In industry realignment, MTN had acquired 100 percent stake in Visafone, one of the frontrunners in the provision of telecommunication services deploying the Code Division Multiple Access technology, which is more in use in the United States than Europe.

Although the transaction was approved by the NCC as required by the law, the regulatory agency later issued a statement clarifying that the transfer of the shares of Visafone to MTN did not automatically mean the transfer of the license and frequency to the mobile operator.Ojobo had stated that a decision had yet to taken on the transfer of the license from Visafone to MTN Nigeria after the acquisition of the Visafone shareholding by the latter.He had said, “A decision to transfer the Visafone licence to MTN has not yet been taken.

What has been approved in the transaction is 100 percent shareholding and not the licence.“The NCC’s final approval to the changes in shareholding of Visafone Communications was taken by virtue of Section 38 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003. Section 38 of the Act states that ‘the grant of a licence shall be personal to the licensee and the licence shall not be operated by, assigned, sub-licensed or transferred to any other party unless the prior written approval of the commission has been granted’.“This clarification has become necessary in order to allay the fears in some quarters that the frequency has been withheld by the commission.”

 


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