NCC tasks states on providing enabling environment for telcos

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated the need for state governments to provide enabling environment for telecoms companies to thrive.

Executive Commissioner Stakeholders Management, Mr Sunday Dare said this

at a media parley at the NCC headquarters in Abuja on Monday.

He said: “Fixed broadband requires you to lay cables. To do that, you need Right of Way permits which are controlled by state governments. For many years, the industry has been battling with the issue of inordinately high charges for RoW, long delays in granting permits, and destruction of fiber cables during road constructions, incessant stop work orders.

He said the commission has stepped in directly by licensing Infracos to provide fiber bandwidth on an open access bases. “We are providing them with output subsidy to mitigate their costs. We expect this to start bearing fruit shortly but the major thing is the support of the state governors, this is very critical. Nigeria is a federation of 36 states; we cannot dictate what to charge for RoW to them, we can only persuade them and hope they see the superior merit and long-term benefits of making their states receptive to telecoms infrastructures.

The commissioner refuted claims that the country is not ready for 5G mobile network.

“Few months ago, we had a forum on 5G readiness where all critical stakeholders comprehensively examined the legal, regulatory and technology issues and we are developing a roadmap. So, to say that NCC is not getting the industry ready is again a mark of either ignorance or mischief,” he said.

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