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National Assembly Should Probe NCC By Jide Ayobolu
Sometimes when two bitter people quarrel, the truth will come out. The current face-off between two powerful Federal Government agencies in the telecommunications sector, the newly established Nigerian Satellite Communication (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), an agency of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, has revealed that there is urgent need for the two committees of the National Assembly on telecommunications to commence immediate investigation of the telecommunication sector, with a special attention focused on the NCC.
I make this call on the National Assembly because since the two agencies belong to the Executive Branch, it will be wise for a neutral and therefore more dispassionate branch of the government to wade in and pursue the various leads that have been provided in the course of the exchanges between the two. The role of NCC as a regulator of the telecoms sector needs to be particularly looked into because from allegations, NCC is beginning to act as a collaborator with the major telecoms operator to undermine the nation’s interest.
According to the particulars of the dispute, NIGCOMSAT said it was granted a presidential approval by the immediate past President Olusegun Obasanjo to obtain spectrum allocation and operating frequencies from the NCC so it can enter into the lucrative Nigerian telecommunications market by providing more modern and other services at considerably cheaper rates than what MTN, GLO, CELTEL and others are offering now.
NIGCOMSAT has on its young neck a loan of $200 million procured from the Chinese Government for the design, manufacture and launch of the NigComSat-1 satellite launched into orbit on May 13 this year. NIGCOMSAT’s primary means of leasing transponders can not enable it to generate sufficient revenue to repay this huge loan, not to talk about launching new satellites.
Its most persuasive argument to me is the one that the spectrum allocation would enable it to deploy innovative applications and technologies that are not offered at the moment by the existing operators and that since plans are on to privatize the company; spectrum allocation would make the company more attractive to prospective investors.
The NCC has not disputed any of these claims made by NIGCOMSAT. Rather, it has said it refused to give NIGCOMSAT spectrum allocation and operating license because it wants to protect existing investment in the telecom industry! In other words NCC is fully aware of the fact that if NIGCOMSAT enters into the market it would “spoil” the market for existing operators by offering better services and at reduced rates. In other words, NCC is also saying that Nigerians should continue to be exploited by MTN, GLO, CELTEL and others so that investors can have confidence in the liberalized telecom industry.
Who told NCC that investors do not have confidence in the lucrative telecom sector in Nigeria? Is NCC unaware of the huge profits the telecom operators have been posting since 2002? What do investors need to rush to any market other than profit? According to NCC’ s warped logic will investors continue to maintain their confidence only if the prices remain high and the services offered continue to be poor?
For the benefit of members of the National Assembly who may wish to inquire into the sordid things going on in NCC and for the benefit of other Nigerians, I wish to quote copiously from an article written by a patriotic Nigerian and posted on the web on this issue. It goes as follows:
“It is germane to state that there is no where in the world where a regulatory agency protects those it should regulate even at the detriment of public interest and the agency’s reason for being. It is very painful paradox that the NCC has practically become the mouthpiece of the big telecoms operators-always rationalizing why the operators offer poor services. I would therefore like to inform the general public that when the Federal Government auctioned the GSM licenses way back in 2001, several palliatives measures injurious to the nation’s economy were given to the operators on the recommendation of the NCC. Among these is exclusivity for five years, which guarantees their market and investment protection, tax holidays for five years, and import duty waivers”.
“The cumulative value of this palliative measures made with good intention by the Federal Government makes a mockery of the cost of the GSM bid put at $285m. To make an illustration, MTN made in 2004-2005 financial year, a profit of N185 billion. Thirty per cent (30%) tax for the year would have amounted to about N62 billion, but this was waived. This is almost twice the N35 billion they paid for the GSM license.” Therefore the Federal Government was cleverly short-changed in the deal by the operators acting in tandem with NCC which authored the palliative measures. They claimed to have imported equipments worth $5 billion. They also enjoyed 30% import duty waiver amounting to $1.5 billion. This alone is more than all the revenue NCC is claiming to have made for government. We can go on and on, but the truth is that Nigeria is being short-changed by the operators and the regulators are part and parcel of this conspiracy against the Nigerian people.”
If our representatives who are supposed to protect the interest of the Nigerian people want to look into this sector, one of the things they should thoroughly scrutinize is the palliative regime put in place to protect the existing operators. Seeing that Nigeria is being ripped off because she wants to give her people telecom services, has the time not come to review the incentives meant to attract investors. It is clear that in the past three or four years the operators have more than recouped their investment.
More importantly, our representatives should compel the NCC to grant NIGCOMSAT the spectrum allocation it needs and the license to commence immediate end-to-end services. NIGCOMSAT has said that other satellite companies provide end-to-end services from where they actually make their money and I have confirmed that averment to be true, if anyone is in doubt then go to the Websites of Thuraya, SES Americom, Korea Telecoms, Telenor Network, Singtel/Optus etc, you will see the services they offer even as satellite operators. Why should the case be different with our own NIGCOMSAT?
Investigation should also be made to establish NCC’s interest in protecting the major operators at the detriment of the nation’s interest. Why has Ernest Ndukwe become the PR consultant to the people he was supposed to regulate? Does he have any equity holding in any of the companies operating now? In fact, how patriotic is Ndukwe when he will gladly give Mudabala, a company wholly owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, which would soon launch its satellite, spectrum allocation and operating license to deploy end-to-end services but will not give to our own NIGCOMSAT the same “favour”?
How proper is Ndukwe’s behaviour in refusing to carry out a presidential directive? If Obasanjo were still in office would Ndukwe have had the temerity, the impudence to tell Obasanjo the rubbish he has been dishing out as his reason for refusing to give NIGCOMSAT the nod to carry out the activities it believes it can carry out? Why has Ndukwe become an emperor in the telecoms sector? Are there no other Nigerians who can preside over the regulation of that sector? These and many more are the questions any inquest into the activities of Ndukwe’s empire should seek to find answers to. Indeed, the National Assembly will do well to commence investigation immediately.
The Assembly should also institute processes to review the Communications Act of 2003 – The NCC has been given excessive power in the Act. A Commission supervised by a Ministry should not wield more power than the Ministry supervising it. The powers of the President, the National Assembly and the Minister of Information and Communications, have been appropriated by the NCC and this should not be. It is embarrassing that the same Act was passed by the National Assembly. Finally, the National Assembly should also investigate the disbursement of 12 Billion Naira Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) which NCC is administering without appropriation.
Jide Ayobolu Abuja. |