SPEECH OF THE
EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, PROFESSOR
UMAR GARBA DANBATTA, FNSE, DURING A COURTESY VISIT TO THE HONOURABLE MINISTER
OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY (FCT), HON. MOHAMMED MUSA BELLO, ON THURSDAY,
AUGUST 24, 2017, AT THE FCT HQ, AREA 11, ABUJA
The Honourable
Minister of FCT, Hon. Mohammed Musa Bello
The Permanent Secretary, FCT
Executive Secretaries of the FCT
Executive Commissioners of NCC present,
Directors and other Senior Members of the NCC
Management,
Gentlemen of the Press,
DEAR Honourable Minister sir, let me, on behalf
of the Board of Commissioners, and Management of the Nigerian Communications
Commission, express our profound appreciation to you, for sparing time out of
your very busy schedule, to welcome us to your office today.
Preamble
Sir, our visit today is driven by the need to
partner, and seek cooperation of a very important Ministry whose role is
central, and critical to the development of our country. It has become
conventional that developments in capital cities, or territories, are used as
index, or level of development of the entire nation. Therefore, we take any
issues concerning our FCT, very seriously.
Telecommunications and ICTs have contributed
their fair share to the development of our nation.
The contributions of
telecommunications to business, governance, security, commerce, and social
relationship in Nigeria have become very significant. The number of mobile and fixed line
subscribers have averaged 150 Million within the first six months of this year
from January to June 2017. Access to the Internet stands at 92 Million as at
June 2017, while ICT contributions to GDP is close to 10 per cent as at the
same month. Telecommunications has attracted more than US$68 Billion in private
sector investment since 2001.
Telecommunications is very vital in the
administration of most major cities of the world. For the Federal Capital
Territory of Abuja, which is the seat of the Nigerian government, housing the
executive, the legislature and the judiciary, including most agencies of
government, the role of telecommunication is very crucial in many respects.
Telecommunications play a very vital role in the provision of adequate security
surveillance and helping security agencies to keep the city free of crime.
Telecommunications assist in the resolution of crimes and apprehension of
criminals. Telecommunications is vital to the wellbeing of the residents of the
city. Telecommunications is the basic foundation for e-governance, e-commerce,
e-health, e-education, and all the ‘E’s. Telecommunications play vital role in
the mobilization of the citizens for development. In many respects,
telecommunications is a catalyst for development and administration.
With the advent of broadband, the telecommunications
landscape has changed dramatically and Nigeria striving to keep pace. ITU has
credited our strides with 21 per cent penetration of broadband. This is a major
outcome of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s multipronged approach to
leverage the inherent potentials of broadband technology, which is the future
of ICT.
This is why we have consciously highlighted the “facilitation of broadband penetration” as the flagship of our
8-Points Agenda to guide our strategic focus for five years. Our strategy in this direction is to facilitate and support availability of broadband services
by promoting deployment of universally available, fast and reliable network
infrastructure that will stimulate seamless broadband penetration to drive
technology innovations and overall productivity of the economy.
It is interesting to note that FCT
belongs to the first set of two zones, (North Central and Lagos,) where the
Commission has issued fibre infraco licenses, to enable broadband deployments
in all parts of the federation using the Open Access Model.
Honourable Minister Sir, a new
phenomenon that will be of interest to your administration is the concept of
smart cities. The Commission is part of ongoing discussions about how to
implement smart cities. Urban planners, city administrators, policy makers, ICT
experts, ICT vendors are looking at how better connectivity, better
security, cyber security, predictive intelligence, better environment and
control, including transportation infrastructure, could be integrated to
provide smart solutions for the city residents.
However, such cities can only
exist where there are robust telecommunications and ICT infrastructure. It is
in such cities that the futuristic Internet of Things, IOT, will become a
reality.
It is our desire, that our FCT, will in no distant future, belong to a
class of such smart cities.
CHALLENGES
Given the status of the FCT today in the scheme
of things, it ought to be the city with the best telecommunications
connectivity. But the reverse is the case, and has been so for several years
now. This presents us with the reality that our FCT has some challenges that
may deny it the opportunity of the revolution in the ICT of the future. The
Federal Capital Territory appears to have some of the most challenging issues
with Quality of Service when compared with other cities across the country for
reasons that we will highlight shortly.
Honourable Minister Sir, we have come because we
believe that with the progressive style of your administration, these
challenges will be resolved for the benefit of the government, the residents,
and national telecommunications development.
Let us highlight some of the key areas:
1.
Collocation of Telecommunication Base stations in
the FCT
Operators are willing to collocate but we are yet
to receive collocation guidelines from the FCT.
We request that NCC guidelines
on collocation be adopted by the FCTA. Furthermore, the sites FCTA offered for
collocations are not adequate and do not suit the technical specifications of
the service providers. It is advised that service providers be involved in
determining collocation sites to ensure that the identified sites meet network
and radio frequency standards of all stakeholders. However, where it is
ascertainable that collocation sites are not possible, FCTA is requested to
approve stand-alone installations.
Unlike some major cities of the world where there
are adequate high-rise buildings, which could have taken care of these
installations, Abuja FCT is not endowed with these types of properties, thereby
making stand-alone installations inevitable. We are aware that some of these installations
may pose issues with environmental beauty, but these can be addressed through
the type of systems deployed in the designated areas. The fact is that base
facilities are indispensable for high quality service delivery as exemplified
in developed parts of the world.
2.
The 2006 fee regime of the FCTA
It was agreed in a meeting between operators,
FCTA and NCC in 2006 that the FCTA and NCC will meet and harmonize positions on
the astronomical increase in fees for building permits imposed by FCTA. This has
not been done and operators have continued to receive bills from the
Administration based on the 2006 rates. Therefore, we request your approval to
establish a committee made up of officers of the FCT and the NCC to resolve
issues relating to charges to ensure that rates agreed are cost based and
comparable to what FCTA charges are, for other users of properties.
There is also a need to provide a legal backing
for any new fee that will be agreed on.
3.
Retrospective FCTA laws that affect telecom
facilities
Any law or policy by the FCTA that affect telecom
facilities should not be made retroactive. We have observed that the fact that
telecom services in the FCT were not envisaged during its initial planning has
resulted in administrators approaching telecom facilities as a normal property,
and visiting them with regulations that should not be applicable. We therefore
requests that approval be given to all existing BTS in the FCTA except those
that clearly pose a danger to its surrounding.
4.
Activities of road construction companies in the
FCT
Operators have complained to FCDA engineering
department about frequent cuts of their fibre lines by road construction
companies in the FCT. These frequent cuts of fiber have resulted in total loss
of services by subscribers and have added to the problem of poor quality of
service in the FCT. Despite the efforts put in by the engineering department of
the FCDA to address the complaints, the cuts have continued unabated. Road
construction companies should be enjoined to exercise extreme caution to ensure
reduction or total elimination of fibre cuts.
Already, the FCTA has the
as-built drawings for all fibre deployments in the capital city. Construction
companies should be made to take note of these drawings and also inform
operators where necessary to enable them relocate their fibre. Companies that
fail to adhere to this directive should be made to pay compensation or provide
recompense for fibre damage in the cause of their work.
5.
Delayed Approval for installation of base
stations/fibre deployments
There are cases of applications for installation
of base stations in Abuja that have been pending since 2014 and beyond. There
are plethora of reasons why approvals are not granted, some of which are
embedded in the issues raised above. Some are issues bordering on right of ways
for deployment of fibre, where the costs are astronomical. Some states of the
federation are already making efforts to ease the deployment of infrastructure
in the interest of the overall development and citizen empowerment. We request
you to find a solution in this regard as availability of infrastructure is key
to quality of service and future growth.
We are aware that some joint committees between
the Commission and the FCT have been discussing some of these issues but it
would appear that these committees do not command the attention of the
leadership, and therefore cannot resolve very critical issues. We invite your
honour to look into the idea of setting up a very powerful joint committee
whose recommendations would inspire confidence, and command implementation.
6.
Implementation of National Economic Council Resolution on Multiple
Taxation, Levies and Charges on ICT Infrastructure in Nigeria.
We have observed that FCDA has not applied the
resolution of the National Economic Council resolution of March 2013 on
multiple taxation, levies and charges for deployment of ICT infrastructure
within the states and local governments in Nigeria. Some service providers have
indicated that the FCTA collects more than 100 per cent of some charges
prescribed in that resolution. We wish to call the attention of the Honourable
Minister to this resolution and to passionately request that the document be
communicated to the key officers of the Ministry for full implementation.
Conclusion
Honourable Minister, we are convinced that your
administration, in tandem with the change mantra of the Federal Government,
will be interested in facilitating or providing the FCT with the best
telecommunications facilities and services available anywhere in the world.
There may be need for the FCT to partner with the private sector to make some
of these services available.
It is obvious that telecommunications is capital
intensive and government has meager resources to share, therefore the reason
for the deregulation of the industry.
Articulation and planning for smart cities, provision of ICT Parks,
provision of ducts for deployment of fibre to homes, and such other initiatives
are possible to be provided by the FCTA through Public Private Partnerships,
PPP.
Honourable Minister, we sincerely believe that
this visit will spur the ministry to give more than a passing look at
potentials and opportunities that will make Abuja, our centre of unity, a
cynosure of all eyes in few years to come.
On this note, the Honourable Minister,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me once again thank you for giving us
this opportunity, and for listening to us.
Thank you.
Professor Umar
Garba Danbatta, FNSE
Executive Vice
Chairman/CEO, NCC
24th
August 2017.
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