NCC Vows to Protect Telcos in MM Scheme

Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) is to push for the protection of telecommunications companies which own and drive the technology on which mobile cashless transaction thrives, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.

The commission, however, said that it will not pressurize the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to rescind its bank-led model in Nigeria’s  largely sore-footed and refractory mobile money (MM) initiative.

The CBN had argued that telecommunications companies were not trained to handle public funds and as such all forms of cashless initiative must be bank-led.

But Mohammed Chubado Babajika, head, Authorization and Licensing at NCC told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek in Lagos that the commission will not accept situations skewed against the telcos which have invested and continue to invest on their network to improve the quality of service provisioning.

“The framework on how the money service providers operate is domiciled with the CBN, because it is purely a monetary issue and it is the CBN that regulates that sector” he stated.

Babajika also said that the Commission will ensure that the areas that will impact the telcos are adequately addresses.

“Areas that we see as will impact on the telcos, we will say no. We will tell them that it is our role; they will not go there, while areas that do not impact on our roles, we will not intervene. That is how the document will be finalized. It will be a win-win situation for all concerned including the telecos, the regulators and the general public,” he added.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek recalled that the CBN had registered banks and other financial institutions to operate mobile money, leaving out the telecommunications operators that supposedly have the largest customer base of over 167 million subscribers, compared to the 20 million bank accounts in the country.