In this report Efem Nkanga takes a look at the controversy that trailed Nigeria Communications Satellite’s bid to get a licence and provide telecoms services in Nigeria
Of recent, the bid by the management of Nigeria communications Satellite Nigcomsat to acquire a licence and provide last mile services to Nigerians has generated a lot of controversy in the media with stakeholders expressing different opinions on the move by Nigcomsat to acquire a licence.
The management of Nigcomsat two weeks ago kick-started the controversy when it put up an advertorial in the media informing Nigerians that the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC was not disposed to issuing it “a total frequency licence for any telecommunications service” said to have been offered on May 5, 2007 on a platter of gold by the former administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The management of the satellite communications body claimed that the refusal of the NCC was rooted in bad faith and a ploy geared at denying the satellite company the opportunity of offering Nigerians state of the art and affordable telecoms services. Nigcomsat in the advertorial added that “it is germane to state that under the extant regulations, Nigcomsat as government owned company is required to apply to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Information and Communications or the president for spectrum allocation and not to the NCC.”
However, the Board of the NCC in a swift reaction to the advertorial after a meeting it convened on the matter, stated that the bid for a license by Nigcomsat is a negation of best practices because the federal government clearly never intended the satellite communications company to be a fixed or mobile telecommunications services provider that will be in competition with other such licensees. The Board restated that it has a duty to ensure a level playing field for all operators in line with the National Telecoms Policy (NTP). It added that the Nigerian government had firmly resolved to liberalise the telecommunications market and promote competition and international best practice. The Board reiterated that the role of government is to provide overall direction to telecommunications development and ensure policy consistency and does not include participating in the provision of telecom services. It added that the purpose of the policy is to ensure a level playing field and drive competition among licensed telecommunications operators by making sure that government restricts itself to policy and regulation.
Dave Imoko, spokesman of the NCC in his comments stressed that “the NTP clearly recognizes the imperative of competition and added that the Federal Government of Nigeria will actively liberalise the telecommunications market and encourage the participation of the private sector at all levels. Specifically, he said the Nigerian Communications Commission is charged with the responsibility of issuing licences to all telecommunications operators, assignment of frequencies and numbering, and establishing and enforcing regulations that ensure fair and equitable competitive practices among all telecommunications operators”
Those in support of Nigcomsat’s bid for the licence claim that NCC’s opposition to Nigcomsat’s bid is ill advised and a bid to deny Nigerians of cheaper quality services. They hinged the current poor quality of service in recent times as a good reason why the facilities of Nigcomsat should be deployed to offer better services to Nigerians.
Others are however, of a different view. Mr Jide Ayobolu, a telecoms expert who commented on the face-off between the management of Nigcomsat and the NCC, reiterated that NCC’s refusal to grant a licence to Nigcomsat is “tantamount to insubordination because Nigcomsat was incorporated by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as a limited liability company. He added that Nigcomsat’s memorandum of association allows it to provide telecoms services, noting that globally, companies that manage and operate communications satellite with similar leanings like that of Nigcomsat offer end-to- end services to their nations, subscribers. He gave many examples of operators like Astra, Eutelsat, Telenor Network, new skies satellites in Africa, the Middle East, South America, Arabsat, leading communications provider in the Middle East and Intelsat as examples of satellite companies that offer end-to-end services.
He maintained that by deploying telecoms services, Nigcomsat will be doing what its counterparts across the globe already do. The offering of end -to- end services will according to him, impact positively on the socio economic development of Nigeria and offer tremendous benefits especially in the face of problems of quality services like dropped calls, unclear signals, difficulties in establishing connections, jamming and poor data services currently plaguing the telecoms industry. Another benefit of providing end to end services, Ayobolu added, is that the high cost of Very Small Aperture Terminal VSAT and communications will be curtailed due to the reliable backbone structure Nigcomsat will provide to carry voice, video and data traffic thereby bringing improvements to the ongoing poor quality of service.
However industry experts have kicked against the bid for a licence by Nigcomsat, reiterating that offering a licence to Nigcomsat will lead to a waste of the nation’s resources with nobody being held accountable for the waste. Engr Titi Omo-Ettu, former Vice President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), in his remarks on the licence bid stressed that it would be an anomaly for the NCC to issue a licence to Nigcomstat because government thrives in bureaucracy which is in contradiction with modern telecoms business. Ahmed Yusuf, a telecom expert based in Abuja also disagreed with the idea of awarding another telecoms licence to a government company when government is already privatizing its interest in the telecoms business. Awarding a license to Nigcomsat according to him, is another attempt to create another Nitel. He noted that the Nigerian satellite company was established to provide transmission services to different telecoms operators, including television broadcast operators and telecoms operators to reach the nooks and crannies of the country, as well as improving e-learning, telemedicine among others and not to provide end to end services.
Source: This Day Lagos
