Has the National Long Distance Operator (NLDO) licence
issued Jim Ovia, the Chairman of Visafone Communication by Eugene Juwah, the
telecoms regulatory czar, been cancelled?
That is the question being asked by Nigeria’s telecoms
industry watchers following new market updates released weekend by the industry
watchdog that excludes Cyberspace Limited, a Lagos-based ISP owned by Ovia,
from the list of National Long Distance Operator (NLDO) licensees in the
country.
Indications that Ovia has been issued the LDO licence
emerged earlier in the year when NCC market updates showed Cyberspace among the
ten licensees for the communication service segment that also counts investors
like Aliko Dangote, the multibillionaire owners of Alheri Engineering, among
others.
An exclusive story of the deal published by TECHNOLOGY TIMES
on April 16, this year, reported that the 20-year licence issued Ovia’s company
on April 1, 2012 was to expire on March 30, 2032.
Companies awarded NLDO licences will be granted offical
telecoms rights to construct own and operate transmission networks for carrying
long distance telecoms services for voice, data and others services across
Nigeria.
NCC is often not known to announce licence cancellation but
its market update at the time has showed Cyberspace among the 10 licensees for
NLDO including MTS First Wireless Limited, Suburban Telecoms Limited, Backbone
Connectivity Network Nigeria Limited, Traffic Network Services Limited and
Fibre Tech West Africa Limited.
Others include Alheri Engineering Company Limited, Phase 3
Telecoms Limited, Gateway Telecoms Integrated Services Limited, Steam
Broadcasting & Communications Limited.
Meanwhile, latest market updates issued weekend by NCC now
lists only the nine companies excluding Ovia’s Cyberspace, a development that
has triggered speculations of uncertainty over the fate of the licence earlier
issued the banking mogul.
Efforts by TECHNOLOGY TIMES to reach NCC as well as
officials of the affected company to get their comments on the development has
so far not been successful.
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