How 5G, NIN-SIM Linkage, Others Shaped NCC’s Activities In 2021

How 5G, NIN-SIM Linkage, Others Shaped NCC’s Activities In 2021

As the year 2021 rolled to an end, we look back at some of the major activities and events of the Nigerian Communications Commission that shaped the telecommunications regulation in the country.

NIN-SIM Linkage Exercise

The federal government had in December 2020 approved the National Identification Number (NIN)-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) data verification and ordered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and) and the mobile network operators (MNOs) to ensure speedy implementation.

The government constituted a Technical Implementation Committee under the Ministerial Task Force to report significant progresses in the NIN-SIM linkage exercise. The NIN-SIM linkage exercise is aimed to ensure that of linking the NIN and SIM of Nigerians and legal residents across the country.

At the beginning of January 2021, the NIN-SIM linkage exercise had recorded 47.8 NINs linked to SIMs by mobile operators. As at December 31, 2021, growth in the National Identity Database has reached over 71 million unique NINs, with about 3 to 4 SIMs linked to a NIN with over 14,000 enrolment centres set up across the country.

Meanwhile, the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has said the federal government approved a further extension of the deadline for the NIN-SIM data verification to the 31st of March, 2022. This extension would enable the federal government to consolidate the gains of the process and accelerate the enrolment of Nigerians in key areas like the remote areas, diaspora, schools, hospitals, worship centres, and the registration of legal residents.

Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing

To promote fair competition, the NCC released the Guidelines on Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing (C/IS) to encourage and promote infrastructure sharing among its licencees. With it, Access Providers and Access Seekers can negotiate C/IS arrangements, and ensure that the incidence of unnecessary duplication of infrastructure is minimised or completely avoided; protect the environment by reducing the proliferation of infrastructure and facilities installations.

The Guidelines promotes fair competition through equal access being granted to the installations and facilities of operators on mutually agreed terms; ensure that the economic advantages derivable from the sharing of facilities are harnessed for the overall benefit of all telecommunications stakeholders; and minimise capital expenditure on supporting infrastructures and to free more funds for investment in core network equipment.

Bill on National Emergency Number 112

Nigerian Senate in 2021 worked to strengthen the legal status for the country’s National Emergency Number 112, being implemented by the NCC though its Emergency Communication Centres (ECC). The Nationwide Toll-Free Emergency Number (Establishment) Bill, 2021 was sponsored by Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State.

The emergency number bill would ensure a more effective, uniform and well-coordinated national emergency number 112, when it is finally passed into law, similar to the 999 emergency number in the United Kingdom and 911 in the United States.

Similarly, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, Oluremi Tinubu, said the bill, when passed, will establish the Nationwide Toll-Free Number as a primary emergency number and contact point for all emergency services in Nigeria, thereby harmonizing the various emergency numbers in the country into one uniform number while, at the same time, empowering the NCC to supervise and ensure compliance.

Review of Telecoms License Structure

In 2021, the NCC initiated the process for the review of existing licencing structure in the telecoms industry by inaugurating an in-house standing committee to carry out the task. The review was informed by the wide range of technological advances, convergence of technologies and services which have characterized the global telecoms space over the years, and which impact is increasingly being experienced in Nigeria.

According to the executive vice chairman of NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, the current licence structure was almost 20 years old, hence the need for an urgent review of the existing license pattern to reflect new licencing trends in line with international standards while providing opportunities for improved revenue for government.

Construction of ICT Parks

The NCC embarked on building Information and Communication Technology (ICT) parks across the six-geo political zones of the country. The ICT Park is an initiative of the Professor Danbatta, to provide Innovation Labs and Digital Fabrication Laboratories (Fablabs) for use by ICT innovators and entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into products and prototypes.

The Tier-4 Digital Industrial Complex (DIC) will provide a Commercial Hub for ICT capacity building and digital skills, create employment and entrepreneurial activities and facilitate smart city deployment across the Digital Industrial Complex. They are designed to have fast internet service (broadband) and constant power supply.

Prof Danbatta stated that the project was conceived and designed to support the federal government’s ICT-related policies and programmes by facilitating the availability and accessibility of ICT services across the country, promote their usage across all sectors and ultimately address youth unemployment in the country.

He said the parks will support software development, incubation and hardware development. “We also hope to see innovative technologies that will leverage the broadband network, which the Commission is deepening in order to socially and economically transform our communities and societies.”