The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) Umar G Danbatta has said that some of the provisional documents on transmission services in the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry are obsolete and need to be reviewed . He made this assertion on Monday at NCC’s Stakeholders Forum of the Consultancy Study on the Determination of Cost Based Transmission Cable Pricing, at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja .
Danbatta also said that “the review is not to hurt the operators but to make it available to the service providers on what benefits them because we need to have the right documents to make a headway through this scheme.”
He added that if the provisional documents are obsolete then it needs to be reviewed for the benefit of both parties.
According to Dambatta, ” the commission did a study on the assessment of the current level of competition in the telecommunications industry. On conclusion of that study , it was obvious that the pricing of transmission leased lines was discriminatory and arbitrary thus forming the basis of the cost study to determine the pricing in this market.
He also revealed that ” statistical report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in May 2014 indicated that broadband penetration rate in the country is low and stood at 6% and 10% respectively for 2014 and 2015 . The Nigerian communications commission acknowledged these low penetration rates and put in place the modalities to increase the penetration rate from 6% to 30% by 2018.
Also speaking was the Partner, KPMG Professional Service, Yetunde Kanu who in her presentation said ” NCC identified the cost based price regulation of transmission capacity as one of the interventions aimed at enhancing effective competition in the whole leased lines / Transmission market. Some of the identified ones are : Excessive pricing of transmission links irregularity, documentary pricing of transmission and onerous contract term.”
Newsdiaryonline.com
Add A Comment