In 2019, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in its proactive regulatory approach, pioneered the trial of Fifth Generation (5G) technology in Nigeria, becoming the first telecoms regulator in the West Africa to begin such historic trial towards unleashing greater digital revolution in the country. Consequently, 5G trials have been conducted in Abuja, Calabar and Lagos and the coming years can only be more exciting for Nigerians, who will, through 5G network deployment, have access to faster broadband speed to carry out personal and official activities. This will bring about more efficiency, effectiveness and growth.

One of the flagship projects which the Commission was commended for in 2019 was the resolve of the Danbatta-lead NCC leadership to pay greater attention to the implementation of the Emergency Communications Centre (ECC) project. During the year under review, the NCC has activated and increased the number of operational ECC to 17 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital (FCT), Abuja – 18 ECC in all. The list includes: the FCT, Benue, Kwara, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Imo, Anambra, Enugu and Adamawa. Subsequently, the commissioning of the National Emergency Toll-Free Number “112” and the Katsina State Emergency Communication Centre for the North West Zone was successfully carried out on September 23, 2019. Necessary preparations and arrangements are, however, ongoing towards ensuring successful launch/commissioning of such centres, including publicity and enlightenment in the remaining five (5) geopolitical zones and the FCT.

In recognition of this important role, the NCC’s Danbatta was recognised as Nigeria’s Goodwill Ambassador in Security and Emergency Management while NCC, as a corporate body, was conferred with the award of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Security and Emergency Management. They received the awards earlier in December at the maiden Security and Emergency Management Awards hosted by the Emergency Digest, a publication of Image Merchants Promotion Limited, in conjunction with the Centre for Crisis Communication.

Closely linked to the NCC’s efforts in implementing the ECC Project to boost Federal Government’s drive to promote security of lives and property, was also the Commission’s ongoing efforts towards sanitising the country’s SIM database for increased security in the country. In 2019, over 24 million invalidly-registered subscriber records were scrubbed (deduplicated) by the Commission via Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) in fulfilment of the mandate to establish a credible database of telephone subscribers.

Following the development of its Value-Added Service (VAS) Aggregator Framework for the telecoms Value-Added Service (VAS) segment, the NCC, in 2019, awarded the VAS Aggregator licenses to 10 companies to provide aggregator services. This will boost the competitiveness of the telecoms VAS segment of the telecommunications industry. It is also to unlock the huge potential of the telecoms VAS market, which has been estimated to be worth $500 million in the next few years. The licensees are I-Cell Multimedia Limited, Nina-Jojer Limited, 21st Century Technologies Limited, Nitroswitch Limited, HML Consulting Limited, Iykejordan Limited, Cognys Systems Limited, Perpetual Communications Limited, Mobile Intelligence Limited and Aerandir Technologies Nigeria Limited.

In line with the relevant provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NAC), 2003, the NCC, in 2019, regularised the activities of all satellite operators including Space station operators as well as Earth Station operators; as well as issued Landing permits to Space Stations beaming signals over Nigerian territory. To this end, the NCC, in June, 2019, granted its first landing right permit (licence for satellite internet) to Avanti Communications Groups Plc, a United Kingdom-based satellite operator, for hosting of its HYLAS 4 Satellite specie segment over Nigerian territory. The landing permit, which is the first of its kind in satellite communications in Nigeria, implies authorisation that allows operators to beam its signal over the territorial integrity of a country. 

Chief Regulatory Officer of Avanti, Ann Vandenbroucke, stated during the granting of the permit by the Commission that the deployment of the satellite would enable immediate broadband access and faster internet services to Nigerians, saying the permit was a big step forward for Nigeria and its economy. The company further stated that it was “attracted to invest in Nigeria because of the stable and predictable regulatory environment.”

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