NCC Survey records Glo Mobile best GSM network
By Basil Okafor
Monday, April 11, 2005

Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, Exec. V.C. NCC Photo: Sun News Publishing

Cybersun Index

Delegates at a recent CEO Forum for ICT stakeholders have warned that unless the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) adopts a firmer posture on the issue of interconnectivity in the telecom sector, it risks losing its mediatory powers and authority in the industry.

The delegates at the Abuja conference organised by Knowledge Media International Limited, (KMI) publishers of IT Edge magazine, in conjunction with the NCC, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and leading consulting firm, eShekels, expressed concern that network interconnectivity was ruining relationships among operators, disrupting seamless inter-network services and commitment of operators to consumers.

They therefore urged the NCC to insist on the preemptive right of consumers to have seamless connection among networks when problems of interconnectivity among operators arise within the existing competition framework.
“The consumers matter most when issues like this arise. It is important that when interconnect problems arise between two networks, the consumer is not made to unnecessarily suffer the consequences of this conflict,” said the President of KMI, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, to kickstart the discussion on interconnectivity.

“No operator has the right to deny another operator interconnectivity. However, all operators must meet their contract terms,” said President of ATCON Chief Charles Joseph, who is also the president of Mobitel. Being under obligation to interconnect to other networks must not be taken to mean that a connected network can do as it pleases, said Joseph. If one network is connected to another, it carries the responsibility to meet its commitment to the other party, he added.

In the last nine months, there have been numerous rows among operators over interconnectivity, leading to the disconnection of some networks by contending operators. For instance, Reltel still has an unresolved interconnect dispute with Globacom. MTN and Vmobile had in the recent past, traded words over inter-connect issues with NITEL.

“This is not completely unexpected. It is actually expected when competition such as we now have in Nigeria comes into existence. What we are saying is that the NCC needs to be resolute in how it addresses the issue,” said the General Manager of Victoria Garden City, Gbenga Adebayo.
The Chief Executive Officer of Chinto Technologies, Sylvester Okonkwo, who thinks the NCC has not demonstrated sufficient willpower to punish erring operators even on issues outside of interconnectivity, supported Adebayo.

But the NCC is not lying low, said Director, Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ado. The Commission has repeatedly initiated steps at getting operators to resolve whatever contending interconnectivity issues they have among themselves, he said. Besides, like every other operator, the NCC frowns at extreme measures including disconnection of other networks by another because it is the hapless consumers that suffer this action, Ado added.
To the Chief Executive Officer of Disc Communications, Engr Bayo Banjo, when the NCC fails to act decisively anytime a network is disconnected by another network, particularly when the network effecting the disconnection is a major network, it gives the wrong signal that there are some sacred cows that it is incapable of controlling.

“The NCC’s inability to act is making people believe that there are some operators it cannot regulate,” said Banjo. To him, because the NCC is committed to all operators as it is to consumers, they (consumers) must not be made the ‘whipping boy’ of interconnectivity squabbles.
“Sanctions must be properly put in place to ensure compliance to the guidelines on interconnectivity by all operators,” he said, warning that “the prelude to chaos is when laws are not applied fairly.”
According to the Chief Executive Officer of eShekels, Fola Odufunwa, one out of four, or a combination of these are usually responsible when “one operator shuts out another.” They are the technical, commercial, regulatory and business sides of the interconnect issue. Of these four factors, the business and commercial sides of it seem to be more prominent in Nigeria’s telecom sector.

“Nobody wants customers but traffic,” said Banjo. He said the big operators have monopolistic tendencies and believe that the large volume of traffic they generate internally is more important than those that come from external, smaller networks. Banjo and the Chief Executive of Ibadan- based ISP, Skannet, Sunday Folayan, think interconnect issues are not issues of infrastructure but ones that bother on operators’ unwillingness to allow traffic to come to them as much as theirs goes to others.

This attitude has been why interconnect companies licensed by the NCC have found it difficult to make any headway since they were licensed, Banjo added. Because many operators are yet to see the need to have an interconnect clearing house, the quality of service has remained partly low and operators rather than optimise their revenues are losing them, argued the Chief Executive Officer of Medallion, Ike Nnamani.

Medallion is one of the licensed interconnect operators. The delegates believe one way to address the issue is for industry players under the aegis of ATCON, to research into and produce a small publication on interconnectivity.

The CEOs’ Forum is an annual CEO-specific dialogue event geared at providing a common platform for dealing with challenges within the industry. This year’s event focused on interconnectivity, VoIP, funding and unified licences with over 20 ICT companies in attendance, including Medallion Communications, Alcatel, Allan Dick (West Africa), Skyvision, Discom, Victoria Garden City Communications Limited, and Chinto Technologies. Others are DCC, a member of the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Starcomms, Private Networks and the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS). **

Delegates at a recent CEO Forum for ICT
stakeholders have warned that unless the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) adopts a firmer posture on the issue of interconnectivity in the telecom sector, it risks losing its mediatory powers and authority in the industry.

The delegates at the Abuja conference organised by Knowledge Media International Limited, (KMI) publishers of IT Edge magazine, in conjunction with the NCC, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and leading consulting firm, eShekels, expressed concern that network interconnectivity was ruining relationships among operators, disrupting seamless inter-network services and commitment of operators to consumers.

They therefore urged the NCC to insist on the preemptive right of consumers to have seamless connection among networks when problems of interconnectivity among operators arise within the existing competition framework.

“The consumers matter most when issues like this arise. It is important that when interconnect problems arise between two networks, the consumer is not made to unnecessarily suffer the consequences of this conflict,” said the President of KMI, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, to kickstart the discussion on interconnectivity.

“No operator has the right to deny another operator interconnectivity. However, all operators must meet their contract terms,” said President of ATCON Chief Charles Joseph, who is also the president of Mobitel. Being under obligation to interconnect to other networks must not be taken to mean that a connected network can do as it pleases, said Joseph. If one network is connected to another, it carries the responsibility to meet its commitment to the other party, he added.
In the last nine months, there have been numerous rows among operators over interconnectivity, leading to the disconnection of some networks by contending operators. For instance, Reltel still has an unresolved interconnect dispute with Globacom. MTN and Vmobile had in the recent past, traded words over inter-connect issues with NITEL.

“This is not completely unexpected. It is actually expected when competition such as we now have in Nigeria comes into existence. What we are saying is that the NCC needs to be resolute in how it addresses the issue,” said the General Manager of Victoria Garden City, Gbenga Adebayo.
The Chief Executive Officer of Chinto Technologies, Sylvester Okonkwo, who thinks the NCC has not demonstrated sufficient willpower to punish erring operators even on issues outside of interconnectivity, supported Adebayo.

But the NCC is not lying low, said Director, Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ado. The Commission has repeatedly initiated steps at getting operators to resolve whatever contending interconnectivity issues they have among themselves, he said. Besides, like every other operator, the NCC frowns at extreme measures including disconnection of other networks by another because it is the hapless consumers that suffer this action, Ado added.

To the Chief Executive Officer of Disc Communications, Engr Bayo Banjo, when the NCC fails to act decisively anytime a network is disconnected by another network, particularly when the network effecting the disconnection is a major network, it gives the wrong signal that there are some sacred cows that it is incapable of controlling.

“The NCC’s inability to act is making people believe that there are some operators it cannot regulate,” said Banjo. To him, because the NCC is committed to all operators as it is to consumers, they (consumers) must not be made the ‘whipping boy’ of interconnectivity squabbles.
“Sanctions must be properly put in place to ensure compliance to the guidelines on interconnectivity by all operators,” he said, warning that “the prelude to chaos is when laws are not applied fairly.”
According to the Chief Executive Officer of eShekels, Fola Odufunwa, one out of four, or a combination of these are usually responsible when “one operator shuts out another.” They are the technical, commercial, regulatory and business sides of the interconnect issue. Of these four factors, the business and commercial sides of it seem to be more prominent in Nigeria’s telecom sector.

“Nobody wants customers but traffic,” said Banjo. He said the big operators have monopolistic tendencies and believe that the large volume of traffic they generate internally is more important than those that come from external, smaller networks. Banjo and the Chief Executive of Ibadan- based ISP, Skannet, Sunday Folayan, think interconnect issues are not issues of infrastructure but ones that bother on operators’ unwillingness to allow traffic to come to them as much as theirs goes to others.
This attitude has been why interconnect companies licensed by the NCC have found it difficult to make any headway since they were licensed, Banjo added. Because many operators are yet to see the need to have an interconnect clearing house, the quality of service has remained partly low and operators rather than optimise their revenues are losing them, argued the Chief Executive Officer of Medallion, Ike Nnamani.

Medallion is one of the licensed interconnect operators. The delegates believe one way to address the issue is for industry players under the aegis of
ATCON, to research into and produce a small publication on interconnectivity.
The CEOs’ Forum is an annual CEO-specific dialogue event geared at providing a common platform for dealing with challenges within the industry. This year’s event focused on interconnectivity, VoIP, funding and unified licences with over 20 ICT companies in attendance, including Medallion Communications, Alcatel, Allan Dick (West Africa), Skyvision, Discom, Victoria Garden City Communications Limited, and Chinto Technologies.

Others are DCC, a member of the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Starcomms, Private Networks and the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS).