Newswatchnigeria can report that a national forum where matters that affect growth of the Nigeria’s Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector are discussed with objective views and stand point of industry watchers has been concluded to hold.
The conveners, journalists in the ICT sector, under the aegis of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), said fresh grey areas that affect service quality in the sector informed the theme of discussion for this forum edition.
In a statement, NITRA President; Emma Okonji said, the one day seminar fix for Friday September 16, 2016, will bring together industry regulators including the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as well as the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) and ZInox Group, players in the private sector among others.
The General Manager of Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Authority (LASIMRA), Mr. Jide Odekunle will deliver the keynote address, Airtel Nigeria will make a paper presentation on the theme; “Impact of Over Regulation on Telecommunications Service Quality” under the chairmanship of Engineer Gbenga Adebayo; ALTON chairman.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, will give overall review of the telecoms industry, the value to Gross Domestic Product, and the effect of multiple regulations on service quality at the event scheduled to hold inside Osun Hall of the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos starting by 10:am.
The Acting Director-General of NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji; President of ATCON, Engr. Olusola Teniola and Chairman, Zinox Group, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, among other stakeholders, are expected guest speakers at the seminar.
It has been reported that telecoms subscribers were said to be losing a whopping N750 million annually to intermittent poor service quality such as call-drops, unfair billings, charges on Value Added Service (VAS) not subscribed to, among others,
“And the Nigeria telecoms industry has grown significantly in the past 15 years in such a way that it is now regarded as one of the fastest-growing in the world. Nigerians telecoms has, indeed, witnessed exponential growth in the last 13 years, moving from active subscriber base of 400,000 with teledensity of 0.004 per cent to active subscriber base of 149.8 million with teledensity of 107.01 per cent, as of June 2016 statistics,” said NITRA President.
He noted that despite the growth, more conducive regulatory environment is necessary for the service providers so as to deliver quality service for their growing subscriber base.
“It is our belief that the forum will provide opportunities for industry stakeholders to dialogue on regulatory challenges facing the operators and their effects on the service delivery to the subscribers. It will also help in offering workable solutions for effective industry regulation that will bring about speedy growth of the over $38 billion telecoms industry,” Okonji added.
