Senate Lauds NCC, Telcos on QoS, Collocation

Senate Committee on Communications, yesterday in Abuja, commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the phone operators for improvements in the quality of service recorded in the sector in the past year, and the ability of the operators to adopt collocation, which has contributed in service roll out.
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, said the Committee received a lot of disturbing reports about the quality of service in the networks in 2007, but that in 2008, the complaints received were reduced drastically.
“We must congratulate you for these improvements, and commend the relationship between you and the NCC but we shall ask you to do more so that the issue will be out of the way,” he said.
 Following submissions to the Committee by Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman of NCC, detailing the network performance and regulatory actions taken to improve on the networks, all the operators at the meeting, which held at the new Senate Building, were united in asserting to the Committee that there has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of service in year 2008 in Nigeria, and that the operators have empirical statistics to prove it to anyone who cares to know.
Bayo Ligali, managing director, Zain Nigeria, who recapped on the submissions by MTN, Globacom, Zain, Etisalat, Visafone, Multi-links Telkom, ZOOMmobile; said 2008 was very significant for the Nigerian telecom industry because it witnessed the highest growth in subscriber base, and for the operators to have coped with the quality of service challenges that come with such a situation meant that they have really worked hard with the guidance of the NCC.
The operators also discountenanced any insinuation from any quarters to the effect that they have not adopted collocation directed by the NCC, with each of them listing more than eight operators with which they have shared their facilities, in addition to patronizing collocation provisioning companies.
The issue of interconnectivity was also raised with the operators indicating that it is no longer an issue in the industry as all the operators interconnect any operator whenever they are licensed by the NCC.
On tariffs, the Committee said it is planning an executive session with the NCC where the issue of interconnect rates will be revisited with a view to achieving a more competitive tariff regime.