Nigeria\'s regulator passes on better mobile service

Tag : mobile cdma phone

In Lagos, the country's commercial capital, consumers will continueto experience service issues until the nation has sufficientterrestrial infrastructures to carry the increasing volume oftelecom traffic, said Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) CEOErnest Ndukwe.
"The quality of service is a challenge that comes with a growingnetwork," he said. "Mobile services started over 30 years ago, butNigeria woke up properly to it about seven years ago and startedexpanding on it."
"Terrestrial infrastructures need to be all around the country," headded, "and until we get to that point where we have some semblanceof sufficiency, we will not have that potent network... For now, a100 percent quality of service is not entirely possible within theenvironment we find ourselves in Nigeria, if the obvious must bestated."
"NCC is concentrating on encouraging operating networks to continueto expand and also committed to ensuring that people get fairtreatment," Ndukwe said. "Operators must not make people pay forservices that are not delivered, so billing must be concrete andaccurate."
The regulator ruled out the likelihood of asking operators to stopselling new SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, as advised bysome critics. To the NCC, such action would not improve service andwould only deny telephone services to Nigerians.
Ndukwe said more than US$12 billion has been invested in the sectorin the last seven years and expressed optimism that there will be acontinuous massive injection of private sector funds in theindustry from international investors.
With more than a dozen licensed unified operators offering GSM(Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code DivisionMultiple Access) service, Ndukwe noted that the 54 million currentsubscriber base is still far from meeting the country's desiredgoal of connecting all its citizens, particularly those in ruralcommunities.