Benjamin Babine, Abuja
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has mandated six licensed telecommunications operators in the country to submit their Regulatory Financial Statement (RFS) to the Commission, within seven months after the end of every financial year.
The six operators: Airtel Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited (9Mobile), Globacom Nigeria, Main One Cable Company Limited, and IHS Nigeria, will, henceforth, be under this obligation according to Accounting Separation Framework (ASF) implemented by the NCC which takes effect from July, 2020.
The Commission disclosed this in a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, who said that the new regulation is aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability in the industry to prevent anti-competitive behaviour.
NCC stressed that submission of RFS, is currently limited to only those six telecos, adding that it will subsist for a period of two years after which the regulator may review the list to include other operators.
Giving reasons for limiting the compliance to only six operators for now, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, explained that the decision was taken to ensure that necessary structure is in place for reviewing and analysing the accounts before applying the new framework to all other operators and licensees in the industry.
Danbatta, however, stated that any other licensee willing to prepare its financial statements in line with the new framework is allowed to voluntarily do so. He said the Commission may exercise its discretion to demand that a licensee submits separated account where it is determined that the activities of such a service provider are deemed critical to the overall well-being of the Nigerian telecoms industry.