The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been described by experts and stakeholders at a two-day Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS-2019) as “best example of government regulatory agency” in Nigeria.
Dr. Andrew Nevin, Advisory Partner and Chief Economist, PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) West Africa, one of the world’s leading consulting organizations, gave the first remarks during a panel session on Wednesday being the second day of the NIS-2019, which started in Lagos August 20, 2019.
According to Nevin, “Based on what we have heard today from Mr. Ogho of NCC on regulatory interventions in driving digital ecosystem and based on what we know in terms of growth in the telecom industry in Nigeria, the NCC is the best example of regulatory agency in Nigeria.”
Also, Prof. Nii Quaynor, another panelist and Africa Internet Pioneer/Chairman, Ghana Dot Com, also said the regulator is “appreciated for the noticeable role it is playing in creating an enabling environment” for digital ecosystem in the country.
The panel session, featuring the Deputy Director, Technical Standards & Network Integrity, NCC, Edoyemi Ogho, as co-panelist, examined the impact of innovation in economic development, strategy, collaboration, and global relevance.
Moderated by Emmanuel Effiong-Bright, Founder, Emmagination Consulting, an ideas and contents strategy development brand, Edoyemi, during the panel session, had used the opportunities to highlight regulatory roles in addressing quality of service issue, vandalism, multiple taxations through collaboration to ensure home-grown innovations have digital platforms to run efficiently.
Edoyemi stated that “Obviously, there are challenges in the digital infrastructure space. However, those challenges are helping us to develop regulations which are capable of making the industry more competitive and while protecting local smaller players and innovators.”
He cited the role of NCC in restructuring the Telecom Value-Added Services (VAS) subsegment which has led to a recalibration of the VAS market.
“Instead of having three players in the telecom VAS ecosystem chain which we observed, as the regulator, was stunting the growth of young content developers and innovators. Therefore, having a new framework in place with regards to VAS market in telecom sector is basically to reduce entry barriers as well as reducing the challenge of content developers having to directly connect to multiple mobile networks,” he said.
He stressed the commitment of the NCC to continue creating an enabling environment through effective regulations of the telecom industry.
