NCC to Adopt New Regulatory Guidelines

Ejura Salihu

9 years ago

In a bid to ensure a robust and efficient regulatory framework in the system, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has commenced the process of harmonizing new regulatory guidelines for the telecommunications industry, according to Nigeria Communications Week. At a stakeholders event to finalize the process in Abuja, Dr. Eugene Juwah, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, explained that the exercise was part of the Commission’s rule-making process aimed at ensuring wide consultation in the development of regulatory instruments by the Commission in accordance with the Nigerian Communications Act. He also said the new guideline had become an invaluable asset in ensuring that the opinions and inputs of stakeholders are considered in developing a sound regulatory framework for the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

According to an official statement released by the Commission, regulations under this process were amended to align with practice and trends in the industry. Justifying the increase of most fines in the old draft, NCC explained that previous fines failed to serve the purpose of deterring repeated contraventions. It added that principle of fairness and transparency were taken into consideration in the amendments, while submissions received from stakeholders were duly considered and where necessary incorporated. For instance, under the new enforcement framework: 1. It is criminal for any operator to provide false subscriber information during registration 2. As condition for releasing seized items or sealed premises, the licensee to either regularize its operations or comply with the prescribed sanctions: a. N250,000 for unauthorized Sim Replacement b. N200,000 for every individual contravention in failure to capture subscriber information c. N100,000 for sale of pre-registered SIM card d. N5,000,000 for each SIM Card order breached or other instruments issued by the Commission where a specific penalty is not specified in the Act. In addition, operators are now allowed to retain call data records for a period of 12 months in their data bank.