It is with great delight that I welcome you all to the first Talk-To-The Regulator
Forum for the Year, 2023, holding in the South-South, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The Nigeria Communications Commission, in keeping with its mandate, creates
opportunities to interact with its licensees on industry issues and new trends via
stakeholder fora, with a view to gathering relevant information that would further
advance the development of the industry, while improving regulations and service
delivery to telecom consumers.
The TTTR Forum in Yenagoa which was originally scheduled to hold in 2022 but
was postponed due to the dreadful flood disaster that hit Bayelsa and some other
states in the year. The Commission, therefore, seize this opportunity to
commiserate with the people of Bayelsa State and the entire nation on the worst
flood disaster recorded in the history of the nation. We pray that such natural
disaster shall not plaque our dear nation again, and equally believe that the state has
made adequate preparations for any future occurrences.
You will agree with me that the telecom industry has witnessed milestones in more
ways than one, including the rapid growth in technology, which is redefining
service delivery, and creating wide and high expectations from all stakeholders. To
keep up to date with developments in the industry, the Commission has equally
taken measures to improve regulations to accommodate the rapid and continuous
development. Some of the interventions and responses of the Commission
includes but are not limited to:
Facilitating the Roll-Out of 5G Service provision.
Introduction of Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Licence to
bridge the gap between unserved and underserved areas.
The Commission is currently reviewing the scope and structure of its
existing licenses to make them more robust and to accommodate some of
the identified new industry trends.
In line with the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (NNBP 2020 – 2025), the
NCC is providing industry leadership to facilitate the achievement of 90%
Broadband penetration by year 2025, and well above 50% at the end of
- Currently, over a One Hundred and Fifty (I50) million Nigerians have
access to internet, while over eighty (80) million can access high speed
internet.
The ‘Talk-To-The Regulator` Forum is a common platform for non-discriminatory
interaction on a one-on-one basis, between the Licensees and the Regulator on
several industry issues, pertinent to the Licensees and of national interest.
I am pleased to welcome our Licensees to this event and hopeful that during the 2-
Day Session, we would discuss and identify the measures necessary to improve
investment and service delivery.
I therefore appeal to you all to feel free to ask questions, provide feedback and
proffer possible solutions that would address the concerns that might be raised
during the interactive sessions.
Thank you, for your attention.
Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, FNSE, FRAES, FAEng, FNIEE
Executive Vice Chairman/CEO
Nigeria Communications Commission
