Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has appealed to state governments to change their perspective on Right of Way (RoW), issue and move away from focusing so much on charges and consider the benefits of charging less or waiving the charges to enable the deployment of robust telecom infrastructure.
The commission also plans to unveil its Strategic Plan for the telecommunication sector by the end of January 2024.
Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the commission, Aminu Maida, who disclosed this, yesterday, when the executives of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), Abuja Chapter, paid him a visit, assured Nigerians of improved quality of service by telcos and solutions to the Right of Way challenges.
He said: “On the issue of the RoW, my own governor gave me freedom to kick start my job. Some states do not see the big picture, that there are more values when you charge less compared to when you charge much. But we need to get people to understand the potential values attached. We need to change the narrative about the RoW, moving away from saying it is about the charge to opening up and allowing infrastructure to be there and see what can happen, like in Edo, and Kaduna, among others.”
He stated that in order to consolidate the work started by his predecessors to link NIN to SIM, the commission is being pragmatic in dealing with the challenges, adding that the benefits far outweigh the pains.
Maida sssured Nigerians of improved quality of service by telcos and solutions to the Right of Way, RoW challenge for operators.
Earlier, the NITRA President, Abuja chapter, Blessing Olaifa, noted that telecom industry is a dynamic and fast growing sector, not only in Nigeria but across the globe and expressed confidence that the EVC has the capacity and competence to drive the sector to greater heights.
