Telecoms add N15t to economy since liberalization of sector, NCC

Success Damian:

It is now on record that the telecommunications sector has added a whooping N15 trillion to the Nigerian economy.

Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Garba Umar Danbatta made the disclosure at a Workshop for Judges on Legal Issues in Telecommunications which held at Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday.

Speaking on the importance of Telecommunication to the economy Danbatta said, “It is an unalienable part of our national growth and development, hence the quest for evolution and excellence is unending. Telecommunications has contributed N15 trillion to the Nigerian economy since liberalization of digital mobile communication nearly 17 years ago.”

Danbatta stated that digitization is changing people’s lives more than any other technical evolution before.

Danbatta said despite the amazing achievements in the sector, cyber criminals are still on the prowl and called for discussion around admissibility of Electronic Evidence towards the successful prosecution of cyber criminals.

Danbatta who was represented by Mr Clem Baiye Board Member, NCC said that due to the proliferation of the internet and the decreasing cost of technology, millions of users have been provided access to enormous resources which has led to an increase in cybercrime.

"Cyber criminals continue to develop new strategies to circumvent cybersecurity regardless of measures put in place to check mate their acts.

"It is necessary to discuss the admissibility of electronic evidence towards the successful prosecution of such cyber criminals," he said.

"The commission however recognizes the need for the judicial system to be part of those making contributions to check mate the issues of cybercrime, hence the bold step behind exposing our judges to issues in telecommunication, he said.

Danbatta said that the workshops was  also intended to discuss Artificial intelligence (AI), a tool that enables people to rethink how we integrate information, analyze data  and use the resulting insights to improve decision making.

On her part, Yetunde Akinloye, Director, Legal & Regulatory Services in NCC delivered a paper on what she called “Introduction to the Nigerian Communication Act, 2003”

She said The Nigerian Communications Act of 2003 was signed into law on July 8, 2003, which repealed the Nigerian Communications Commission Act No. 75 of 1992, the Nigerian Communications Mommission (Amendment) Act N0. 30 of 1998 & the Telecommunications & Postal Offences Degree No. 21 of 1995, among others.

While stating that the regulator sees to the implementation of Government policy on communications, protect and promote consumer interests, grant licenses, specify KPI and monitor QoS; manage scarce resources from spectrum and numbers, and Spectrum trading, among others, she said functions of NCC include “to Issue, renew, suspend and revoke licenses, impose terms and conditions on licences, it also has investigative powers, approve tariffs for all telecommunications services; and Competition practices regulation.”

She said there has been some recent developments which in the industry which include ICT Policy 2012; the National Broadband Plan 2013 – 2018; National Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Act 2015; Spectrum Trading Guidelines among, other developments.

On new issue she said “New Issues/ Trending on the Review of the NCA, 2003 include Limiting Multiple Taxation on licensees, Address issues surrounding over the top (OTT) Services, Broadband and Next Generation Networks, Local content Development in Telecoms/ICT, Child online protection” among others issues.