Maida: NCC Will Not Dictate Technology Solutions to Telecoms Licensees

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Emma Okonji in Lagos

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Aminu Maida, has said the organisation upholds the principle of technology neutrality in the regulation of the telecoms industry and won’t dictate any technology solution to its licensees.

Technology neutrality is a principle in which service providers licensed to provide services are at liberty to adopt any technology for cost-effective deployment of services with no let or hindrance.

Maida re-echoed the technology-neutrality principle of the commission when a delegation from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nigeria Power Sector programme (NPSP) visited him at NCC’s head office in Abuja recently.

He said that the commission remains a technology-neutral regulatory agency, established to regulate competition and not to determine what technology solution its licensees must deploy to power their operations.

“The primary responsibility of NCC is to ensure effective competition among licensees in a way that guarantees the delivery of qualitative service that produces high quality of experience and value for money for the consumers,” Maida said.

“The operators are at liberty to adopt any type of power technology they think that is good, and cost-effective to keep their operations at optimal performance in meeting the quality of service Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by the Commission,” the EVC added.

Maida said, however, that the commission was open to innovative ideas that support reduction in cost of operations for the licensees and guarantees delivery of improved services for their business sustainability.

The NPSP is an initiative of USAID aimed at powering African countries with alternative source of electricity, such as greener, solar, renewable energy, to support the growth of their economies.

The USAID NPSP team was led by its Chief of Party, Tunde Gbajumo, who told the EVC that the purpose of their visit was to advance discussion on telecom electrification through renewable energy, which, he said, falls under the purview of the commission as the sector’s regulator.

Gbajumo said the team had been working with Rural Electrification Agency (REA), investors and user organisations for the purpose of improving the power sector in Nigeria through provision of technical support to key actors in the Nigerian economy to nudge the adoption of renewable energy.

According to him, realising how demanding power supply is to the telecommunications sector, “USAID NPSP is proposing to work more with the NCC on sustainability models of renewable energy to support the digital economy sector in Nigeria.”

Gbajumo also said his team had carried out pilot studies in some locations, the outcome of which had provided the team with some understanding and insights into the challenges confronting tower companies (TowerCos) and Telecom Companies (Telcos).

According to him, this is especially with respect to high cost of diesel in powering their facilities and to address the impediments being faced in the deployment of renewable energy to run their operations.