SAN FRANCISCO, September 07, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it remitted N362.34 billion into the Federal Government Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), from 2015 to date.
The commission said it also recorded 42.02 per cent Broadband Penetration in five years from six per cent while it has established 19 Emergency centres across the country to protect, empower telecommunications consumers in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who spoke at an interactive session in Abuja, said that these feats have been realised through its commitment towards the economic diversification drive of the current administration.
“The Commission has also remitted N362.34 billion from 2015 to date to the Federal Government Consolidated revenue Fund (CRF) through spectrum fees and operating surplus, which has helped to boost the revenue-generated drive of the current administration.
“This achievement is a result of key policy initiatives to improve broadband penetration embarked upon by the Commission. These include increasing the number of licensed infrastructure Companies (InfracCo) to six across geo-political zones, spectrum reframing, spectrum re-planning, Spectrum auctions, and administrative spectrums assignments, among others.”
Danbatta also said that teledensity rose to 104.41 while the sector contributed 14.2 per cent to the GDP in the second quarter.
To further explore its mandate as consumer-centric regulatory body, the commission stated that it has established 19 functional emergency centres, with specialized toll-free number targeted towards protecting and empowering Nigerian telecommunications consumers.
In this regard, the EVC said “I am happy to report that 19, emergency communications centres (ECC) have been activated across the country. The 112 National Emergency Number allows Nigerians in distress to get help in emergencies.”
In addition, Danbatta said, the commission has embarked on a number of initiatives to reduce the cost of telecom services on consumers including collaboration with the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF), regarding Right of Way (RoW) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the area of National Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) to reduce multiple taxations.
“The commission also determined that MNOs must not charge the consumers directly for the use of USSD channels for financial services in the form of end-user-billing. Rather, the transaction should be between the MNOs and the entity to which the service is provided (i.e Banks and OFIs).”
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