TECHDIGEST – In the past 5 years, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) transferred N463 billion to the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, revealed this when he led the management team of NCC on a visit to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. William Alo.

According to Danbatta, who informed the Permanent Secretary on the state of the business, NCC continues to be a significant contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to him, the industry’s contribution to the GDP increased from 8.5% in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 12.61 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. Over the same period, the telecoms sector also attracted over $2 billion in Foreign Direct Investment.

He mentioned that the Commission’s recent, successful 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum auction for 5G services, the licensing of seven providers of fiber optic infrastructure, and the addition of 38,296 kilometers of fiber optic as some of the main accomplishments made under his direction.

Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, endorsed a statement in which he claimed that some access gap clusters in the nation had been decreased from 217 to 114 in order to give 15 million Nigerians access to telecom services.​​

The deployment of fiber optic cables increased from 47,000 kilometers to 54,725 kilometers, he continued.

According to Danbatta, there are now more than 30,0​​00 3G and 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) around the nation.

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TECH DIGEST – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has exceeded its N36 billion projected revenue from spectrum license fees for 2021.

The Commission said that it had recorded over N150 billion from this revenue source within the five months of the year.

Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Adinde said that the figure represents over 400 per cent increase in revenue budget performance in respect of spectrum fees generated by the commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021.

He said that this reflected significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government.

According to him, the N150 billion spectrum revenue achieved in the first half of the year has been remitted to the government in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003.

The act mandates the Commission to remit proceeds from spectrum resources wholly into the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

The Commission, in its 2021 Budget, approved by both chambers of the National Assembly in December, 2020, projected a revenue of N36 billion from spectrum fee for the year 2021 but has remarkably surpassed this estimate.

He noted that over the years, the NCC had put in place an effective regulatory regime which had significantly facilitated advancements in the nation’s telecoms industry.

The director also said that it boosted Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improved the operations of licensees as well as boosted the government’s revenue generation.

Commenting on the revenue performance, the Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said that the impressive uptick in spectrum fee was the result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector.

Danbatta said that at the time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 Budget of the Commission, it was not clear due to the ravaging impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.

He noted that the 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably.

The EVC, however, said that the commission believed that enthronement of effective regulation would continue to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) recalled that on October 28, 2020, the NCC had generated and remitted N344.71 billion to the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the last five years. (NAN)

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TECH DIGEST – The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has told the House Committee on Telecommunications how the telecoms agency contributed to the revenue drive of the Federal Government by generating and remitting N344.71 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the last five years.
Danbatta stated this while briefing the Committee members, led by their Chairman, Hon. (Prince) Akeem Adeyemi, during a legislative oversight function on the Commission in Abuja on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.

The EVC, who attributed the successes of the Commission in the last five years to the harmonious relationship between the Commission and the National Assembly, said such relationship, the diligent oversight by the lawmakers and necessary legislative support have brought forth a lot of dividends for the industry.

“Through the support of the lawmakers, especially the House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications, which the NCC leadership has worked with in the last five years, the Commission has been able to generate and remit N344.71 billion to Federal Government Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) from spectrum fees and operating surplus,” he said.

Danbatta stated that telecoms sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 8.5 percent in 2015 to 14.30 percent as of the second quarter of 2020.

In financial value, the 14.30 per cent translates to N2.272 trillion in Q2. He also said that telecoms investment grew from around $38 billion in 2015 to over $70 billion currently.

Speaking further, Danbatta said the NCC is promoting financial inclusion by encouraging the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to actively participate in providing financial services towards actualising FG’s 80 per cent financial inclusion target by 2020.

​ NCC says subscribers’ SIM registration data undergoing scrubbing, verification
According to him, through the collaboration of critical stakeholders as the National Assembly, the NCC has been able to increase broadband penetration from 6 percent in 2015 to 45.43 per cent as of September, 2020 while basic active internet subscription grew from 90 million to 143.7 million.

“Between 2015 and September, 2020, active voice subscription has increased from 151 million to 205.25 percent million with a teledensity standing at 107.53 percent as at end of September, 2020. We are also empowering and protecting the consumers and ensuring we are able to sanitise the industry of improperly-registered Subscriber identification Module (SIM) cards through our impartial regulatory approach,” Danbatta said.

To continue to collaboratively advance the development of the industry, Danbatta listed key areas of collaboration with the House Committee, going forward.

These, according to the EVC, include speedy passage of the Commission’s budget, enhancing mutual working relationship and knowledge transfer sessions/capacity building for Committee members for better understanding of the workings of the Commission and the industry.

Meanwhile, Hon. Adeyemi, in his address, said the over sight function was in line with relevant sections of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, as amended, which empowers the House to carry out its role of checks and balances on the executive arm of government under which the NCC, as a Federal agency, falls.

The committee commended the leadership of the Commission for its transparency in ensuring remittances to CRF of the Federal Government, considering the current revenue drive of the government.

The committee urged the NCC to sustain its current template of ensuring effective regulation of the telecoms sector in a manner that would be more mutually beneficial to the industry players, the consumers of the telecoms services and to the Nigerian government.

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