NCC will sanction mulish operators

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have called on all telecom companies to embrace full and uncompromising compliance with all regulatory instruments, especially in the areas of quality of service, consumer protection and fair competition in the market.

Its Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Sunday Dare, made the appeal during the “Meet the regulator forum” at NCC Headquarters, Abuja.

He said the call has become imperative to avoid sanctions and create a healthy relationship between the operator and the regulator.

He said NCC is working on streamlining its processes to address concerns of operators on turnaround speed and other critical issues, but insisted that the regulatory body remains resolute on sound internal governance and strict adherence to the code of corporate governance in the industry.

He said developments in the industry have placed more responsibility on the regulatory body to be up and doing in its assignments, noting that industrial players are expected to key into regulatory frameworks that would help move the industry forward.

Dare added: “We are looking at the pervasive use of ICT in education, health and social services; the increasing digitalization of manufacturing and other processes; the widespread use of IoT and other technologies, as well as the early rollout of 5G networks to drive these game-changers.

“More importantly, the industry landscape is changing. Traditional models of delivering voice, data and infrastructure services are being threatened.

“Technology enables competing service models which work outside the scope of regulators and organisations are being challenged to ”innovate or die”.

“The point I wish to make is that the NCC is very clear that its role is to facilitate the successful operations of our licensees.

“We are also clear that the operator-regulator relationship is a symbiotic one which requires us to enable our licensees to succeed.

“We are prepared to facilitate the speedier and more efficient availability of regulatory resources like spectrum, numbering, approvals, etc.

“We are working on streamlining our processes to address your concerns about turnaround speed. We shall also continue to impartially perform the responsibilities imposed on us by our role as independent regulator of the telecoms industry.”