NCC Unveils New Draft to Check Overpricing

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has unveiled a new draft policy regulation on determination of cost based pricing of fixed transmission services for operators in Nigeria.

The new draft was a result of a consultancy study by a multinational consultancy service company, KPMG.

The objective of the study according to NCC was to develop a comprehensive cost using data collated from operators in the transmission cable market and to draw inferences on the cost of providing transmission services in Nigeria.

Also, the study was aimed at ascertaining the degree of transparency and competitiveness of pricing in the transmission market by the telecom operators.

The study is expected to set the pace for effective competition in the wholesale leased lines and transmission capacity market in the telecommunications industry.

Addressing stakeholders during the formal presentation of the report, Prof. Umar Dambatta, executive vice chairman of NCC, said the commission deemed it necessary to contract the study based on the outcome of a previous assessment study carried out by NCC on current level of competition in the telecommunications industry, which showed a discriminatory and arbitrary pricing of transmission leased lines by the operators.

 The International Telecommunication Union, ITU had in its recent statistical report showed that broadband penetration rate in Nigeria stood at 6 per cent and 10 per cent for 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The NCC said one of its major steps to address the low rate of broadband penetration in the country is to encourage massive infrastructure deployment that will stimulate seamless broadband penetration that will in turn drive technology innovations and overall productivity of the economy.

It would be recalled that the one of the key thrust of Prof. Dambatta’s 8 Point agenda is to provide and optimize access to and use of affordable fixed and mobile broadband in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

In her remarks, Mrs. Josephine Amuwa, NCC director of Policy Decision and Economic Analysis, said the outcome of the study would help in addressing the issue of unhealthy competition which had allowed the market to determine the prices for transmission.