Telecom
NCC Extols VAS Contribution to Financial Inclusion
The Nigerian communications commission on Thursday said that the geometric increase in the number of Value Added Service (VAS) in the country has contributed in promoting financial inclusion policy of the government and the creation of wealth for many Nigerians.
Engr Maska Ubale, Executive Commissioner Technical Services, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).stated this at the 1st Annual Nigeria Value Added Service Stakeholder’s Forum, held on Thursday, in Lagos.
Engr Ubale, who was represented by Engr Bako Wakil, Deputy Director, NCC, stated that the increase is a reflection of how creative, innovative and enterprising we have become in providing solutions to our everyday needs.
He noted VAS riding on the back of telecoms infrastructure have been able to make life simple by the provision of services like payment of utility bills, mobile payment, promoting of financial inclusion policy of the government.
He explained that the commission has allocated short codes to about two hundred and thirty three (233) VAS licenses for the provision of different VAS services and that this has immensely enhanced service delivery in the Nigerian telecom industry.
Ubale emphasized that one of the cardinal agenda of the commission’s 8-point agenda is the facilitation of strategic collaboration and partnerships with stakeholders in VAS ecosystem.
According to him, “The VAS stakeholder’s forum is one of the many laudable initiatives embarked by the commission to develop effective partnerships and collaboration with relevant stakeholders for sustainable ICT development and social advancement.
“As the ICT ecosystem is transforming daily, VAS content developers and providers will have to collaborate and partner with other stakeholders in the telecom ecosystem, this will drive the development and proliferation of applications that will meet the needs of consumers.
“It is in this regards that the technical standards and network integrity department under the supervision of the executive commissioner, technical services organized this stakeholder’s forum.”
He added that the forum will create more awareness, guide participants in understanding the social and economic importance of VAS as well as assist them to understand the importance of collaboration and partnership in the new telecom world where content is king.
During his presentation titled: ‘Concerns on the impact of VAS to consumers’ Efosa Idehen, Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC said that VAS is an integral component of the Nigerian telecom ecosystem necessary for optimizing the benefits of telecom services to consumers.
He revealed that Nigerian VAS market is presently valued at about N79 billion ($220 million) adding that it’s estimated to grow to about $500 million by 2021.
He noted that the VAS market has impacted positively and negatively on the consumers but noting that the positives far outweighs the negatives.
“Like every services there are both positive and negative impacts of VAS on consumers but the positives far outweighs the negatives.
“The commission therefore deems it fit to find a balance between enabling the opportunities that the VAS providers offer to consumers while at the same time mitigating the challenges or inconvenience they could constitute to other consumers.
“Thus, while service providers are licensed by the commission and are allowed to operate and provide value added services to consumers, the consumers are empowered through the DND facility to choose whether to allow or block access to these services on a full or partial basis,” he added.
Idehen, also bemoan operators on the barrage of unsolicited messages and the fraudulent deduction of consumers credit for VAS not subscribed for.
He added that consumers would like to see concrete action by the operators on the spam messages, fraudulent bank alert, forceful subscription and the menace of bulk sms and unsolicited messages.
He explained that the commission has taken necessary steps in order to mitigate against VAS related consumer complaints, stressing that the introduction of Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Number 2442, which empowers consumers to block all unsolicited messages and VAS services as one of the steps taken by the commission.
Airtel Money Africa, Airtel Africa’s mobile money arm, announced an extended partnership with Africa’s largest mobile money payment service provider (PSP) pawaPay to enable seamless cross-border payments for licensed International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) across seven key Airtel Africa markets.
This collaboration officially launches pawaPay’s service for inbound remittances into Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Tanzania. The partnership allows IMTOs to efficiently deliver funds globally directly to recipients’ more than 161 million Airtel Money customers wallets, leveraging pawaPay’s renowned reliability, scalability, and 99.9% platform uptime.
Building on five years of trusted collaboration in domestic mobile money, this expansion strengthens and simplifies Airtel Money Africa’s backend processes, using pawaPay’s robust payment service provider infrastructure, which processes over four million transactions daily.
Airtel Money Africa CEO, Ian Ferrao, said: “We’re pleased to expand our partnership with pawaPay to advance international remittances across Africa. Their proven reliability and commitment to African consumers make them an ideal partner. This integration empowers International Money Transfer Operators to securely connect with Airtel Money’s growing footprint, delivering real-time payments that support financial inclusion and economic growth.”
pawaPay CEO, Nikolai Barnwell, said: “Our mission is to simplify payments for businesses in Africa, and remittances are pivotal. Deepening our relationship with Airtel Money allows International Money Transfer Operators to leverage our world-class infrastructure for seamless cross-border payments.”
Remittances remain critical for millions of Africans, enabling family support, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion. This partnership ensures secure, instant mobile wallet transactions, key to advancing Africa’s digital economy. pawaPay will extend this capability to additional Airtel Money Africa markets in coming months.
Rubrik, the cybersecurity company, and Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, have announced a strategic partnership to provide Sophos M365 Backup and Recovery Powered by Rubrik.
This marks the first Managed Detection and Response (MDR)-optimized Microsoft 365 backup and recovery solution fully integrated into Sophos Central, Sophos’ security operations platform.
Designed to support IT and cybersecurity teams, the new offering will provide a unified global platform to enhance cyber resilience against ransomware, account compromise, insider threats, and data loss in SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, and Teams.
“We are reshaping what it means to stay operational in a world shaped by constant digital disruption,” said Joe Levy, CEO, Sophos. “This is the future of cyber resilience: an intelligent, adaptive partnership that ensures organizations remain secure, responsive, and uninterrupted. By combining Sophos’ prevention-first approach with Rubrik’s unwavering recovery capabilities, we empower businesses to withstand attacks and maintain continuity, even under pressure.”
Sophos will offer a powerful new add-on solution for its more than 75,000 MDR and XDR customers, enabling fast, secure recovery of critical Microsoft 365 data in the event of accidental deletion or malicious compromise.
This solution integrates Rubrik’s industry-leading SaaS-based protection directly into the trusted Sophos Central platform, giving organizations the flexibility to enhance their existing security operations with robust data recovery capabilities.
The Sophos Central platform integrates over 350 different telemetry sources across endpoint, cloud, network, identity, email and business applications. The platform leverages deep learning, custom LLMs, and frontier models to detect and respond to threats across the entire attack surface, enhancing defense effectiveness.
“The reality of today’s threat landscape demands a holistic approach to cyber resilience,” said Bipul Sinha, CEO, Chairman, and Co-founder of Rubrik. “With AI-enabled attacks and sophisticated breaches on the rise, organizations need more than just prevention; they need the ability to recover rapidly and reliably. Our partnership with Sophos delivers this critical capability directly within a platform security teams already use and trust, raising the bar for Microsoft 365 resilience.”
The Evolving Threat Landscape
According to The State of Ransomware report by Sophos, nearly half of organizations impacted by ransomware chose to pay the ransom to recover their data. Despite this, only 54% of affected companies relied on backups for data restoration, highlighting a continued gap in effective cyber resilience practices.
Recent research highlights the urgent need for robust Microsoft 365 data protection: 60% of Microsoft 365 tenants have experienced account takeovers, a frequent launchpad for lateral movement within an organization, and 81% have encountered email compromise.
When global admin credentials are compromised, attackers can manipulate retention settings and permanently delete critical business data.
Existing tools were not designed for comprehensive, large-scale recovery, which requires speed, granularity, and reliability for rapid restoration.
Sophos MDR and XDR customers will benefit from:
- Secure, immutable backups: Rubrik will isolate Microsoft 365 backups with air-gapped storage, WORM locks, and customer-held encryption keys. Multifactor authentication and data lock prevent tampering, even with compromised credentials.
- Fast, flexible recovery: Customers will be able to restore Microsoft 365 emails, OneDrives, SharePoint sites, Teams channels, and more to original or alternate users, including inactive accounts.
- Automated protection: Rubrik will automatically discover Microsoft 365 users, sites, and mailboxes, applies Entra ID-based policies, and supports delegated admin – all integrated with Sophos Central to reduce manual effort.
- Unified experience: Microsoft 365 protection and security operations will be managed via Sophos Central with no extra tools.
Rubrik and Sophos’ shared commitment to helping organizations operate with confidence in the face of risk, will provide Sophos customers and partners with a powerful solution to recover with speed and precision when threats inevitably break through.
This offering will be available through Sophos’ channel partner network in the coming months.
MTN Nigeria is deepening its role as an industry enabler with the launch of its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform and the signing of its first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement, Chief Financial Officer Modupe Kadri revealed on Monday.
Speaking in an exclusive Channels TV interview, Kadri confirmed that MTN has opened its network to T2 (formerly 9Mobile) under the NaaS framework approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). This allows T2 subscribers to roam seamlessly on MTN’s infrastructure while retaining their own customer relationships and branding.
“Network-as-a-Service is a platform where MNOs can roam within the NCC framework on MTN’s network,” Kadri explained. “It makes the industry more efficient in the utilisation of scarce resources.”
Kadri also announced MTN’s first MVNO partnership, with the virtual operator set to go live soon. MVNOs lease network capacity from established mobile operators, enabling them to offer services without investing in costly infrastructure.
These initiatives align with NCC’s push for infrastructure sharing to boost sector efficiency and coverage. By providing network access to smaller players, MTN is positioning itself as a critical enabler of market expansion.
The Nigerian telecom industry, valued at $10.8 billion, now reaches 169 million active phone lines and over 142 million internet subscribers. While competition remains intense, the trend toward infrastructure sharing is expected to lower barriers to entry for new service providers, increase service quality, and expand access in underserved areas.
“As MTN, we are here to help the industry survive,” Kadri said. “It makes it much easier when you see other operators willing to come on and provide quality services to Nigerians, which we all deserve.”
Industry analysts view the move as a strategic diversification for MTN. With voice revenues plateauing and data driving growth, shared network models offer new revenue streams and a hedge against market saturation.
MTN’s investments in NaaS and MVNO partnerships are part of its broader transformation strategy, which also includes cost optimisation, forex risk reduction, and targeted capital expenditure to strengthen network quality.
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