NCC, Ghana’s NCA deepen telecom ties, advance West African integration

In a strategic move to bolster regional integration and regulatory excellence, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation in telecommunications regulation.

This follows the successful conclusion of a two-day benchmarking and coordination visit by a high-level NCC delegation to Accra, Ghana.

Led by the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, the visit marked a milestone in strengthening cross-border regulatory alignment, technical collaboration, and shared learning in line with global best practices.

The engagement culminated in a bilateral meeting at the NCA Tower in Accra, where both agencies exchanged critical insights and strategies around Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring, consumer protection, telecom infrastructure security, and cybersecurity.

These thematic areas are considered pivotal to developing resilient, inclusive, and innovation-driven telecom ecosystems in both countries.

Welcoming the delegation, NCA Acting Director-General, Rev. Ing. Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, who assumed office in January 2025, underscored the strategic importance of Nigeria-Ghana collaboration.

He emphasized the need for both nations to continue providing regional leadership in telecom regulation and innovation.

“We must continue to set the tone for regional leadership, particularly on the international stage,” Fianko stated.

“Ghana is eager to partner with Nigeria on initiatives such as ECOWAS Roaming, cross-border regulatory monitoring, and capacity building to deepen regional integration.”

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Ghana currently maintains ECOWAS Free Roaming arrangements with Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Benin, and is piloting similar frameworks with The Gambia. Fianko noted that cooperation with Nigeria — the region’s largest telecom market — is critical, considering the high volume of traffic and trade between the two countries.

In his remarks, Dr. Maida commended Ghana’s regulatory advancements, especially in areas such as real-time monitoring and managing market dominance.

“We are here not just because of what we’ve heard, but because of what we’ve seen — Ghana’s impressive regulatory infrastructure and innovation,” he said.

“Nigeria is ready to collaborate on ECOWAS Roaming and draw valuable lessons from Ghana’s experiences.”

As part of the visit, the NCC delegation toured several of NCA’s state-of-the-art facilities, including the Communications Monitoring Centre (CMC), Network Monitoring System, and the Common Platform — a key revenue assurance tool designed to enhance transparency in Ghana’s telecom sector.

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Both regulators also delivered in-depth presentations showcasing national regulatory milestones.

The NCC highlighted Nigeria’s achievements in NIN-SIM integration, the deployment of its Incident Reporting Platform, the Tariff Simplification Framework, and the classification of telecom infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).

These initiatives have significantly improved consumer protection and regulatory efficiency in Nigeria.

Conversely, the NCA spotlighted its commitment to regulatory innovation, data-driven decision-making, and robust stakeholder engagement, which have collectively improved compliance and service quality across Ghana’s telecom industry.

In a bid to strengthen continental cooperation, Dr. Maida extended a formal invitation to Ghana to participate in the African chapter of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), currently being developed to enhance regional discourse and policy shaping.

The visit concluded with both regulatory bodies pledging to pursue joint regulatory initiatives, technical cooperation, and sustained knowledge exchange.

The renewed partnership is seen as a critical step toward harmonizing telecom regulation in West Africa and building a secure, inclusive, and consumer-centric digital future for the region.