The National Frequency Management Council has intervened in the frequency debacle involving MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this while speaking with journalists during a meeting with the African Telecommunications Union and the Nigerian Society of Engineering in Abuja on Friday.

The NBC had sold 700MHz spectrum to MTN for N34bn without any bidding in a bid to raise money for the nation’s transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The frequency will enable MTN to render pay TV services.


 
Danbatta said the NCC would not join issues with the NBC on the sale of the frequency which it had held in contempt as it was not consulted as the regulator and repository of telecommunications frequency in the country.

He, however, said that the NFMC, on which both organisations were represented, had taken over the matter and was investigating the sale of the frequency to MTN, a move that had been condemned by other telecoms operators who were equally interested in the use of the spectrum.

The NCC boss said, “We are not going to join issues with the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, a sister agency of government.

“There is an inter-agency mediation mechanism at the level of Nigerian Frequency Management Council. I am happy today to report that the frequency council has indeed intervened in the 700GHz spectrum dispute.

‘‘The public will be informed at the right time about its resolution on the matter. I do not want to pre-empt the resolution of the Frequency Management Council on this matter but we are confident that it will do justice to it.”

On the ATU, Danbatta said the NCC would leverage on the expertise available at the continental organisation to improve the quality of service available to telecommunications subscribers in the country.

He said, “We know the factors that are responsible for the reduction of quality of service in Nigeria. Some of them are technical while others are non-technical.

“We are going to engage the ATU to explore their technical expertise in the management of quality of service in order to achieve the acceptable level of service in line with the standards provided by the International Telecommunications Union.

“There is a lot of expertise to be tapped from the ATU. We do not accept the current poor quality of service we experience today.’’

In his remarks, the Secretary General of ATU, Mr. Abdoulkarim Soumaila, described Nigeria as one of the most dynamic telecommunications markets in the world.

On his part, the President, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Mr. Otis Anyaeji, praised the NCC for its pioneering role through effective telecom regulation.

Anyaeji identified technology as the best option for Nigeria in the era of diminished earnings from oil and gas.