Mr
Tony Ojobo comes across to you as someone who has seen it all in the Nigeria
telecom business. When on Monday 3rd July 2012 he played host to the
Editorial team of CKN Nigeria at the 6th floor of the expansive building
housing the headquarters of the Nigerian Communications Commission at Maitama Abuja,it
was obvious the man was on top of his job as he reeled out figures and data
about the industry from his finger tips. A master of the game you ll say.
In
this all embracing interview,Mr Ojobo,the director, Public Affairs of NCC spoke
on a variety of issues concerning the industry that has seen a massive growth
from a mere 40,000 fixed lines to a whopping 99.4m telephone subscribers within
13 years of the GSM revolution.
The mandate of NCC includes:
- Monitoring
Standard and Making sure its strictly adhered to
- Protect
the Consumer
- Mediate
on Issues concerning Operators
- Fix
interconnectivity rates
- Mediate
on issues between operators/consumers
- Approve
numbers allocated to Operators
- Approve
Equipment, phones etc
- Spectrum
Planning and allocation through ITU etc
Let’s get to meet Mr Tony Ojobo on this first part of a
two part interview
On
how the industry has fared in 13 Years of GSM operation:
According to him, it will be good to look at where we were,
where we are and where we ought to be.
For starters, before the advent of GSM, Nigeria had a
little over 400,000nfixed lines. But as at April 2012 we now have about 99.4m
telephone lines in Nigeria. Nigeria now ranked as the fastest growing telecom
country in Africa and also one of the fastest growing in the world. That for
him is a major leap. There has been capacity challenge. Initially the operators
made a projection of about 500,000 subscribers in the first year of operation,
but the Nigerian market proved that wrong. That subscriber based was achieved
within three months of operation.
That in itself created a capacity challenge, operators
had to re-strategize on how to expand the networks which they have continued to
do periodically.
Nigeria currently is the 20th top internet
user in the world with 45 million users. In Africa, we are 33% in the entire
region
There was also the challenge of supply and demand.
Since Nigeria operates an open market, it will be difficult to restrict any
operator from adding more subscribers to an already congested network. More so
our culture is a SPEAKING culture where people will rather talk rather than use
text messages like it is the norm in established societies.
This in itself adds to congestion within the networks.
But not minding these hiccups, the NCC has been able to monitor the activities
of the operators to make sure that they meet set standards and were they err we
correct them
On
the benefits of GSM in the past 13 years.
Mr Tony Ojobo enumerated some of these to include,
employment generation for hundreds of Nigerians who have gained employment through
marketing, sales of recharge cards and other services by GSM companies.
Others include online education which has been made
possible because of improved internet facilities, a drop in road accidents due
less movement and use of roads, unlike in the past where people practically
stay on the road to transact business.
The advent of GSM has also improved services in other
sectors like the Banking sector especially in the area of online banking as
well as the Cashless society being pursued rigorously by the Central Bank of
Nigeria.
The GSM revolution according to him has also helped in
saving lives especially hospitals which are now easily accessible through
phones in case of emergencies.
The non-formal sector to have become the biggest
beneficiaries of this according to him. Practically every small scale
entrepreneur and artisans have unhindered access to telephones to transact on
business or the other.
On
What NCC is doing to make sure that Operators meet their obligations to their
customers.
Mr Ojobo said that in as much as the NCC understands
some of the challenges facing the operators especially in the area of power,
the agency is now making it compulsory for various operators to CO LOCATE their
operations in order to bring down their overheads and give the customers the
best services.
A co locate organization is already in place and some
of the operators are already taking advantage of it. It means, rather than have
four different base stations by the operators in a particular location or area,
the operators will be made to locate all their facilities in one particular place,
using same mast and other equipment to service their customers except where
that facility is already congested.
Moreso,the NCC with NESREA recently met to review the Environment Accessment Pact which used to
be 18 months to a maximum of 12 weeks..Within these period ,an approval will be
given for deployment or set of base stations unlike what was obtainable in the
past.
Also
the right of way has now been reduced to 30 calendar days. These new measures
were put in place in order to improve their services and minimize down time
On
The Recent imposition of N1.7b fine on Gsm Operators
Mr Tony Ojobo said the fine imposed on Airtel,MTN,Glo
and Etisalat was as a result of a deterioration in the quality of services to
their customers.
According to him, the agency periodically assess the
performance of each of the telecom operators especially in the area of service delivery,
customer care and where they are found wanting, appropriate measure are meted
out as a deterrent.
The NCC has to come down hard on the operators after several
warnings..
To
be continued…
If the fines paid by the GSM Operators is for poor services to the consumers, how would the consumers benefit directly from the fines paid. Would part of the money be made available in any way to the consumers who actually suffered from the poor services?
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