August 24, 2020
ABUJA – Prof Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), has outlined critical regulatory actions that have been taken by the NCC to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on quality of service delivery by telecom networks.
According to a statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde on Saturday, Danbatta enumerated the measures while speaking at the first edition of the Virtual Telecom Consumer Parliament hosted by the Commission in Abuja on Friday.
Citing an International Telecommunications Union report, the EVC said some telecom operators and platforms were reporting demand spike, especially in data usage and volume of calls, as high as 800 per cent since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Regardless of this, Danbatta said the commission and the mobile network operators needed to play their roles in sustaining quality of service delivery and quality of experience by the consumers.
He noted that the NCC, in conjunction with the supervising ministry, developed e-platforms to handle all requests from the licensees to ensure that regulatory services were provided to sustain service delivery to subscribers.
He said the commission also approved and encouraged resource sharing among network operators and secured Right of Passage for all telecommunications companies and suppliers for easy movement during the lockdown.
These measures enabled the operators to service their base stations and ensured seamless services for telecom consumers who increasingly relied on the networks during the pandemic, he said.
Danbatta stated that the NCC, working with the ministry, was resolving the problem of high cost of Right of Way with the Nigerian Governors Forum, adding that through such engagements, the state governors had lent their support for a robust broadband infrastructure.
“The commission is hopeful that with the reduction in RoW, which will automatically result in reduction in capital expenditure by the network operators, telecom companies will sooner than later reciprocate the gesture by making their services more affordable to Nigerians,” he said.
