From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Worried by socio-economic challenges posed by the global outbreak of corona virus pandemic, otherwise known as COVID-19, the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerian Communication Commission ( NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has said that Nigerians should find alternative in digital economy delivery to beat the negative effects of the pandemic.
This was even as Prof.Danbatta assured customers of digital services of protection against fraud and cybercrimes, adding that the Commission is at the verge of deploying the fifth Generation (5G) network for faster service delivery in the country.
In a message he sent to the Special Day of NCC at the ongoing Kaduna International Trade Fair, the NCC Boss said the fair was an opportunity for the Commission to engage telecoms consumers and business owners, who have been relying on digital platforms to carrying out their daily personal and official activities in a more efficient and effective manner.
The theme of this year’s edition of the trade fair, which is the 43rd in a series is “Strategising Nigerian Economy for Global Competitiveness.”
“We consider this theme very apt and timely, especially considering the very important role telecommunications has been playing in providing the digital impetus that is transforming the landscape of businesses as well as sustaining other socio-economic activities since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.
“Telecommunications sector has been a strategic driver of the digital economy agenda of the Federal Government, as it continues to provide the needed digital sinews that support the economy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant restriction period.
“While the COVID-19 has come with its challenges, the Commission is working assiduously with various stakeholders including you, the consumers, to see how more businesses can embrace digital platforms for delivering their services to the consumer. As a regulator, we also ensure we constantly inform you, the consumers on how to be protected to prevent cases of online fraud or eschew consumer falling victims of cybercrime antics while in their legitimate use of the Internet.Indeed, strategising the Nigerian economy is strongly connected telecommunications giving the power it has to positively disrupt traditional business models.
“The growing demand for connectivity is pressuring companies to upgrade their telecommunications infrastructure. Network transformation has become far more imperative for innovative businesses, allowing them to address changing customer expectations.
“Suffice it to say that telecom services also have direct and indirect benefits for your business such as improved cross-team collaboration, increase employee productivity and satisfaction as well as provide leverage to reach more customers and business partners for greater value creation. With high-speed internet, mobile apps, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), social media networking sites and other means of digital communication, staff of a company can exchange information in real time and reach out to prospective clients.These technologies support branding efforts and customer service strategy.
“For SMEs in this era of COVID-19 pandemic, they can leverage ICT platforms to run their operations, thereby reducing operational costs, saving office space, increasing productivity across and ultimately increasing bottom-lines.Having said these, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to emphasize that the NCC will continue to drive the remarkable digital transformation we are witnessing in our economy today and one area that the Commission pays greater priority to is how our consumers – Yes, you as telecoms consumers- are treated by the service providers.
“This is why at NCC, we continue to treat consumers as Kings and Queens. Of course, that is who they are because without the consumer, both the regulator and the service providers have no business being in business!Therefore, it is my pleasure to restate the NCC’s commitment to protecting and empowering consumers – whether individuals and corporate consumers – from unfair practices willingly or unwillingly orchestrated by the service providers.
“This is based on our regulatory mandate of ensuring that consumers of telecommunications services deserve to get value for their money, and to be treated right as very important stakeholders in the scheme of things.It bears noting that one of the NCC’s centre of interest, over the next five years, as contained in our new Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), 2020-2025 and the Strategic Management Plan (SMP), 2020-2024, is our consumer-centric philosophy.
“By this, we continue to do everything possible to ensure telecoms consumers get the best value for their money. Consequently, the Commission will continue to focus on excellence and efficiency of our regulatory activities and ensure increased connectivity to telecoms consumer through deployment of robust infrastructure.
“As you may be aware, the NCC is on the verge of deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) network in Nigeria. Already, spectrum licenses for the companies that will rollout service shave been issued. Though, the deployment will start from the state capital sand gradually extends to other areas across the state, it is important to state that, unlike 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G, the 5G network will bring substantial network improvements, including higher connection speed, mobility and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities to communications services in Nigeria.
“More importantly, it is also our commitment, at NCC, to continue to provide a level-playing ground for operators to thrive, promote investment and delivery of innovative services to individual consumers, SMEs and big business owners by ensuring enhanced consumer quality of experience.
“At a time of COVID-19-induced slowed growth and continued volatility, many countries are looking for policies that will stimulate growth and create new jobs. Information Communications Technology (ICT) is not only one of the fastest growing industries – directly creating millions of jobs – but it is also an important enabler of innovation and development.
“In Nigeria, the number of active mobile subscriptions reached 195.4 million in December 2021 with Internet subscribers exceeding 141 million and a broadband penetration 40.88 per cent. In this new environment, the competitiveness of Nigeria, for instance, depends on ability to leverage new technologies.
“Hence, areas where NCC’s regulatory efforts in deepening access to digital services will benefit Nigeria and make it competitive comparable to other economy include: direct job creation; contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth; emergence of new services and industries; workforce transformation; and business innovation.
“It is in our response to ensuring that Nigeria is competitive in all these areas that Commission continuously puts a number of regulatory measures in place to ensure seamless access by Nigerians to telecommunications services in order to deepen competitiveness of the Nigerian economy.
“The steady growth of telecoms sector over the years with its pervasive positive impact on all other sectors of the economy in terms of increased automation of processes and digital transformation in service delivery, has been remarkable. This, however, would not have been possible without you, telecoms consumers who are using the services daily.
“To sustain this, therefore, the NCC continues to create a cconducive environment that stimulates deployment of robust telecoms/broadband infrastructure for improving the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for telecoms consumers, be it individuals or corporates.
“Without any doubt, we need robust telecoms infrastructure that will help our Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and even big business entities hitherto running a ‘brick and mortal’ operational approach to seamlessly transit to becoming Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven if we hope to be competitive on the global stage”. Prof. Danbatta said.