For about four days after the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has sent a petition to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), complaining of counter-regulatory directive that is in not in line with prevailing regulations by a sister agency, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Commission is yet to respond.
However, NCC has announced plans to host industry regulators across Africa in a3-day Conference tagged “Conference of African Telecommunications Regulators on Consumer Affairs, CATCO 2019.”
Coming with the theme: Empowering the Telecom Consumer in an Era of Technological Evolution, the event is slated for Abuja, the Federal Capital from August 20 – 22, 2019 as a follow up to the one held in Lagos in 2013.
Director Public Affairs of NCC, Dr Henry Nkemadu in a statement, said ”This year’s event is geared towards pursuing a continuous collaboration between African telecommunications regulatory of individual countries and their regional bodies such as West Africa Telecommunication Regulatory Association (WATRA), East African Communications Organisation (EACO), and others.”
In his remarks on the planned conference, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, averred that the Conference will provide the platform for Africans to establish unity, solidarity, collective self-reliance amongst African nations; “thereby building on the principle of pan-Africanism within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) space; and sustaining a robust collaborative regulatory environment where current and future challenges are addressed.”
Danbatta further added that participants are expected to provide varying and fresh perspectives to burning issues affecting telecoms consumers and service delivery in Africa. Vital discussions will focus on the current state of telecom industry in Africa, ways to improve it and how to sustain a healthy telecom industry.
Other areas that will be looked into are; challenges confronting African telecoms regulators, international best practices, emerging technologies and their applications for the benefits of consumers, amongst others.
Business Hilights gathered that stakeholders from various African countries, Legislators and Government officials, Consumer Advocacy Groups, African Telecommunication Regulators and Regional bodies such has West Africa Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (WATRA), Communications Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa (CRASA) and others are expected to be at this year’s event.
