NCC Tasks Telcos on 2018 Broadband 30% Penetration Target

Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has urged the telecommunications operators to step up the drive towards achieving 30% broadband internet penetration in the country by 2018.

The Commission extended the call to the operators during discussions on “Data Service Delivery:  The Way Forward” at the 76th Telecoms Consumer Parliament (TCP) and second edition of the repacked series, held in Lagos on Thursday and reminded them that the users are hungry for data, especially with the increase in smarthphones, tablets, phablets and other devices now available in the country.

Data Service is referred to the distribution of internet service on demand to the user regardless of geographic or organisational separation.

NCC’s Complaint Management Database (CMD) shows that the prevalent consumer complaints on Data Service Delivery include, but not limited to inability to browse; abnormal depletion of data; unsuccessful data renewal and unauthorized service renewal.

During the period of July to October 2014 the percentile figures recorded on data service delivery complaints show that only Airtel recorded zero customer complaints in the month of July with MTN, Etisalat, and Glo recording 41.47%, 41.67 and 8.33% respectively.

For the month of August the telecos recorded the following percentage of complaints; MTN (63%), Etisalat (9.09%), Airtel (9.09%) and Glo (9.09%), while in September they recorded MTN (10%), Etisalat (40%), Airtel (10%) and Glo (30%).

Also in October, they recorded complaints MTN led with (42.86%), Etisalat (14.28%), Airtel (21.43%) and Glo (14.25).

Speaking at the TCP Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), for a country of about 180m people as at 2014, having more than 130m subscriber base, the industry stakeholders cannot afford to be contented.

Juwah said, “The transformation of Telecom industry has led to more FDIs, Employment, and Efficient business transactions among others. This emphasizes the importance of ICT in the development path of a nation.

“ICT remains a priority of the Federal Government and an important sector in the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan administration for strong, inclusive, non-inflationary growth using ICT as the major driver for transformation.  Mr. President requires us to ensure that ICT facilities are extended to all citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In this regard, Internet and broadband have been globally acknowledged as the foundation for the nation’s transformation to a knowledge-based economy”.

The EVC admitted that the path to an efficient broadband service in Nigeria has been a long and difficult one. “Internet connectivity has come a long way from a single international submarine cable system with 340GB total capacity installed in 2001 (SAT3) to four cable systems with international bandwidth capacity of over nine Terra bits in 2012.

“Despite progress made, Nigeria is still a far cry from achieving what is considered global broadband standards even among other developing countries.

“In fact, it has become more worrisome the kind of services most Service Providers sell to their subscribers, all in the name of 3G, while some even canvassed to have 4G but nothing has changed in data services. Consumer experience is nothing to write home about,” he said.

In view of the foregoing, the NCC EVC said that the Commission has taken some steps towards realising effective deployment of broadband services in Nigeria.

“The world is now a global village and Nigeria cannot afford to be improperly integrated into it. This integration could be better achieved not only through voice telephony but also effective data service delivery.

“On consolidation of progress made so far, we have increased Teledensity from 63% in 2010 to more than 90% in 2014. The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, is targeting a 30 per cent increase in broadband internet penetration by 2018. The increase from its current level of six per cent is expected to come from the planned historic auction of the 2.6 gigahertz spectrum band.

Also speaking, Mrs. Maryam Bayi, director, Consumer Affairs Bureau of the NCC, said that one of CAB’s mandates is to ensure the protection of the rights, privileges and interests of telecommunications consumers as well as develop effective policies and strategies that promote efficient telecoms service delivery.

“The importance of Data Service to global technological revolution and contribution to national economic and social development cannot be overemphasized.

“Data Services are able to eliminate redundancy and streamline costs. This is because critical data is housed in one location, enabling data to be accessed and/or updated by multiple users. while ensuring a single point of reference for updates.

“Sourcing from our Complaint Management Database, we have compiled the most prevalent consumer complaints on Data Service Delivery. These include:- Inability to Browse, Abnormal Depletion of Data, Unsuccessful Data Renewal and Unauthorized Service Renewal,” she said.

NCC also reminded the operators that consumer satisfaction is key to a sustainable telecommunications industry, while efficient and effective data service delivery is paramount to enhancing broadband implementation and penetration in Nigeria.

The operators also shared with the ‘parliamentarians’ their strategies towards solving the issues raised such as consumer education, engagement of services of more customer care agents, rolling-out consumer-friendly data plan, among others, but NCC insisted on they unleashing statistics to back up their claims.