NCC Sees Telcos’ Listing on NSE as Height of 2019 Regulatory Achievements

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has described the listing of telecom operators on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), as one of the heights of regulatory excellence it achieved in 2019.

The Commission in a document noted that the listing of the telcos last year went down in history as memorable achievements in the country’s telecom industry as the yearnings of most Nigerians to have increased stakes in the telecoms sector got an unprecedented boost.

“One of the remarkable achievements of the NCC in 2019, which has not only impacted the industry but also bolstered the entire economy was the Commission’s regulatory efforts in seeing to fruition, the listing of MTN and Airtel Africa on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE),” the document noted.

The document also quoted Prof. Umar Danbatta executive vice chairman, NCC, to have said: “The MTN listing has helped to translate into action, an important objective of the Commission, which is to promote local investment and ownership in the telecom sector. Also, with MTN’s shares available in the capital market, it is expected that Nigerians will buy shares and by purchasing the shares of MTN, they will be financially empowered and be socially transformed.”

One of the benefits of MTN listing and those of other operators to follow is that the Telco would be able to raise more capital for network expansion, which in turn, will bring about an improvement in the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for the consumers of telecoms services.

Despite the initial volatility seen in the Nigerian capital market earlier in 2019, the listing of the biggest telecommunication company, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa, has helped in increasingly making the market capitalisation bullish.

Today, capital market regulator and shareholder bodies have commended the effort of the NCC in making the capital market more resilient through facilitating the listing of MTN, a move that was the fallout of the conditions the telecom regulator gave MTN following the telco’s violation of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration rule in the telecommunications sector.