Fears NCC May Regulate OTT Services Are Misplaced- Danbatta

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said that fears in some quarters that the Commission is out to regulate over the Top (OTT) services are misplaced.

Danbatta who spoke through Tony Ojobo, director, Public Affairs at the recent Social Media Week in Lagos explained the Commission’s position following the recent document circulated via the website.

He said, “…on a document titled: An Overview of Provision of over the Top (OTT) Services published by the Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis Department on our website. Fears are being expressed that the NCC wants to start regulating OTT services. These fears are misplaced.

“For purpose of clarity, OTT services are services carried over the networks, delivering value to customers, but without any carrier/service provider being involved in planning, selling, provisioning, or servicing them, thereby implying that traditional telecos. cannot directly earn revenue from such services. These over-the-top services include services such as Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, live streaming and other social media applications”.

At best, OTT technology is disruptive and global responses have been mixed.

Danbatta said that what the NCC paper has done is to elevate the value and quality of discourse on the issue.

At the ITU Global Symposium for regulators which held in Gabon in 2015, some operators expressed concerned over the activities of OTT operators and how they affect baseline returns in the industry.

A particular operator suggested that "OTT players are eating the operators' lunch" since they are not regulated and have no investment to increase their cost base.

“In a summary report of the Symposium, Analysysmason counselled that "operators and regulators alike should consider carefully before coming to any conclusions on whether OTT players should be regulated (as per operators) or whether existing regulations should be withdrawn”, he said.

The NCC boss added that the regulator’s objectives align with the ITU’s to catalyze additional opportunities offered by OTT services to the benefit of the consumer and to support competition while avoiding the OTT related risks in the areas of security and data protection.

“One salient conclusion  in the OTT Services report published by the Commission is that while acknowledging the fears of traditional telecom service providers that traditional telephony and SMS revenues are under threat from newer, IP based alternatives like WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, etc. the document also recommended that the Commission should encourage network providers in Nigeria to innovate and explore more efficient business models that would enable them compete favourably with OTT service providers. The document is on the Commission’s website, www.ncc.gov.ng. I implore you to read it,” he added.