NCC Hires KPMG to Access Competition in Telecoms Sector

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has employed the services of KPMG International,  a global network of professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services to assess the current level of competition in the Nigerian telecoms market.

This is geared towards deepening competition in the market by preventing anti-competitive practices to ensure confidence and certainty in all players in the various markets over unfair practices of their competitors.

Joseph Operators at a Stakeholders’ Forum on the assessment have charged the regulator to carry out a delineation of the communications market prior to the assessment to ensure transparency and regulatory certainty.

Shola Adeyemi, a representative of Airtel Nigeria said the operator was concerned that the NCC did not state the specific market in focus and the purpose of the study, noting that it was only after a proper delineation has been carried out that an indepth market review could be done.

The presence of anti-predatory pricing which is providing services below the cost enough to drive competitors out of the market so as to monopolize the market was condemned by Kemi Adeyanju of Mainone Cable Company.

She noted that the regulator was not enforcing competition laws which would promote sustainable competition, leading to some operators stifling the growth of their competitors, affirming that some telcos are keenly contesting with Mainone as a wholesale provider of bandwidth.

She therefore urged the NCC to demonstrate its commitment towards restoring operator’s confidence in the commission.

Earlier in his opening address, Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of the NCC represented by Biodun Olujimi, a commissioner at the NCC said: The incredible growth in access to telecommunication facilities as well as investments in the industry since the liberation of the industry just over a decade ago is ample proof of the gains of a competitive market, which has led to innovations, increased consumer choice in products and services as well as prices”.