NCC Generated $563.1m For FG Through 3.5GHz Auction

02 Apr NCC Generated $563.1m For FG Through 3.5GHz Auction

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has confirmed that  the commission has helped the Federal Government raise the sum of $563.1m through the 3.5Hz option.

Danbatta said this while highlighting the efforts of the commission in attaining the ten years National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) between 2020-2030.

He spoke at the retreat organized by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE) for senior management staff of the Ministry and all its agencies which was convened to evaluate the implementation of policy, according to a statement by the NCC.

Nigeria has eight years to implement the NDEPS, but Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria’s Communication Minister believes that all hands must be on deck to get the desired result.

Pantami who was present at the event tasked the forum on synergy among stakeholders and inter-agency co-operative and collaboration.

The minister in his address urged all the agencies and their staff to challenge themselves to do more rather than think of themselves as competitors.

Speaking on the issue, Danbatta argued that the commission has acted superlatively in implementing the policy in the context of the vision of the federal government and the supervision of the Ministry.

The EVC explained in detail the NCC accomplishments under each of the eight (8) pillars of NDEPS.

He cited 10 of the 16 regulations that have been instituted in giving expression to the government’s vision on developmental regulation, which is the first pillar of NDEPS.

He said, “These regulations were focused on Enforcement Processes, Lawful Interception, Quality of Service, Competition Practices, Licensing Regulations, and Universal Access and Universal Service among others.”

Danbatta reassured the forum of his commitment to complete the review of the remaining and activate their implementation.

Under the first pillar, the EVC itemize the guidelines, regulations and policy development initiatives to discharge the burden of proof of NCC’s effectiveness in the regulation of ICT and digital economy sector through approaches that enabled development.

In implementing Digital Literacy and Skills, which is the second pillar, Danbatta said that the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), set up by NCC in 2004, had trained 5,352 students through 49 institutions, provided educational training software to 398 secondary schools, and endowed 7 professorial chairs in various Nigerian universities across all the geopolitical zones.

Speaking on the third pillar- solid infrastructure, Danbatta revealed that broadband penetration as at December 2021 was 40.88 per cent, which has enabled 80 million Nigerians to have access to broadband services.

To reinforce the intensity of NCC’s commitment to improving broadband penetration, Danbatta told the forum that NCC has put in place a process for the deployment of optic fibre cable using Infrastructure Companies (Infracos).

“The Infracos are expected to lay 38,296Km of fibre optic cable. Also, in keeping with the Government’s directive through a Federal Executive Council decision of 2005, NCC has constructed 32 Emergency Communication Centres (EECs) in various states, and 32 of those have been activated and are operational,” he added.

Dr. Armstrong Takang, an innovative and technology-for-development specialist, who presented the lead paper as guest speaker, praised the federal government for concretely aligning ICT, and digital economy with national economic imperatives.

Takang also commended NCC for driving the necessary infrastructure and effectiveness in regulating the telecom sector.

He lamented the human capital challenge in the ICT sector in Nigeria.

According to him, the country needs at least 500,000 software engineers to redirect efforts for effectiveness of the Digital Economy policy.