By Dele Ogbodo in Abuja
The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Mr. Umar Danbatta, on Friday said the commission had concluded partnership deal with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), through the African Telecommunication Union (ATU), aimed at improving the poor quality of service presently being experienced by subscribers in the sector.
He acknowledged that the technical factor involved at ensuring better quality of service made it more pressing for NCC to engage ITU in order to achieve an acceptable level of quality consistent with international benchmark, adding, I think that they have a lot of expertise that we can leverage on so that we attain the quality of service that is desirable.
The NCC boss spoke at the sideline at the instance of the Secretary General of ATU, Mr. Abdulkarim Soumaila's courtesy call in his office in Abuja. He also pointedly admitted that the commission was entering into collaboration with ITU on standardisation.
Danbatta said: "NCC has also indicated other areas of cooperation towards the upcoming of ITU standardisation programmes that is around the corner, through the Secretary of the ATU. I think that we are going to continue with this level of cooperation and we intend to carry it to a higher level towards making ICT penetration more affordable and accessible.
"NCC will also work closely with the ATU in order to achieve its objectives for which the union was established and to ensure that there is proliferation of communication services across the lands to the African continent."
While explaining the outcome of the mediation of the Frequency Management Council (FMC), on the 700MHz spectrum band between NCC and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the latter auctioned last year, he said: "NCC is not going to join issue with the NBC, there is this inter-agency mechanism at the level of management council and the council has intervened.
“This issue is being revisited and very soon the public will be briefed on the intervention. I do not want to preempt the decision of the council on this matter and once the issue is resolved you will be the first to know."
On expectations from the conferences coming up across the continent, he said: "As a region, we performed plausibly at the WRC-15, but there is still room for improvement in Africa’s participation at the ITU. We therefore like to explore more collaboration with ATU especially in the area of capacity building and development of expertise."
In a remark, the Secretary General of ATU, while underscoring Nigeria’s strength in telecommunication sector, acknowledged Nigeria, for its dynamic market potentiality and broadband penetration efforts adding that it could not be taken for granted across the continent with its large of experts. He however said the missing link which had resulted in poor quality service would be addressed with capacity building and technology upgrade in the system.
He said: "ATU also wish to thank NCC, because it is a big contributor in the finance of the ATU. I thank NCC staff. Also there is the preparatory ITU meeting that is coming and so we need to prepare for the conferences in April in Mozambique and March in Chad. We expect NCC to give their support. We shall do a lot together in terms of capacity building for the benefit of the African continent."
He added that other African will tap from the breakthrough being recorded from its satellite communication programmes, adding: "ATU also believe Nigeria can come and give their experience in satellite management in Africa. ATU is always there for Nigeria and Africa."
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