The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will be stricter on monitoring of quality of services being offered by the big four telecommunications operators in the country from January, next year.

NCC’s CEO and Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Aminu Maida revealed this when he held a meeting with Nigerian Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in Abuja on Thursday.

“We are going to be driving very hard on that (Quality of Service), as one of the areas that we should be held responsible; we will make sure it is transparent. I want it to be transparent so that we can drive the industry”, Maida said.

According to the executive vice chairman, NCC will embark on compliance drive next year to make sure “that we are working on the things that will help the licensees, MNOs and other stakeholders in the value chain.”

He added that the commission would hold mobile networks operators (MNOs) accountable “because what you do not measure you do not hold people accountable on”.

However, he said, in a collaborative fashion, NCC would sit down with the operators and look at the challenges “and know what we can do together”, adding “I do not intend to use horsewhip”.

He said: “And of course, quality of experience matters, in my engagement with the CEOs of telcos, I had to let them know that we need to make sure people, everybody, get value for their money. There are challenges everywhere, whether it is EFEX, diesel, security; but because of the criticality of the telecoms infrastructure we must not fold our hands.”

Maida said his guiding principle as the boss of NCC is the Renewed Hope Agenda and the strategic roadmap set out by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy “and of course there are some aspects that are specific to us that we will add into that.”

At the end of January, he said, NCC would release a new strategic plan for the industry and country’s telecom sector.

He said Nigeria’s broadband penetration drive is complicated, interrelated system of components that have to come together in harmony for the industry to move forward.

In his address, NITRA President, Blessing Olaifa, congratulated Maida on his appointment by President Tinubu and his confirmation by the National Assembly.

“It has been a long journey that we have been partnering with the Commission, our membership are drawn from all sectors of the media.

“Because Abuja is the seat of power, we felt that we cannot sit back and watch. Our relationship with NCC has been very cordial and our partnership has been mutually beneficial. Like Oliver Twist, we wish to ask for more”, Olaifa said.

He urged the NCC boss to build on what his predecessor achieved not just in telecom but in the media. (Daily Trust)

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