" ITREALMS: Etisalat, NCC to boost investments in local innovations

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Etisalat, NCC to boost investments in local innovations



Vice president, Regulatory and Public Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko, at a quarterly seminar organised by the Nigeria Information and Communications Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) in Lagos, said it would partner with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to boost growth of Nigeria’s telecom sector by promoting investments in local innovations as it has increased its subscribers’ base to over 22 million in less than six years of operation, ITRealms reports.

ITRealms gathered that Mr. Dikko, represented by the company’s spokesperson, Chineze Amanfo, noted that to enhance local capacity building in the sector, the company, as part of its innovative strides, instituted the Etisalat Prize for Innovation Award which encourages indigenous software developers to create apps that will enhance the growth of the mobile industry.

Executive Vice Chairman NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, represented by the NCC executive commissioner, Dr Mike Onyia, ITRealms learnt said that innovation from a regulatory point of view, has catapulted growth in the sector to the height that it has achieved today, with the uncountable number of apps riding on telecom networks.

“NCC adopted technology neutrality in its licensing process to provide opportunity for creativity and innovation in the provision of services. Restriction of service to specific technologies, as we discovered, may not allow for innovation, so we have allowed for choice of technologies for multiple operators using regulatory tools designed to encourage local innovation in the provision of services.” He said.

Juwah, ITRealms learnt, also added that innovation provides mutual benefit to bother the service provider and consumer of the service, adding that NCC would continue to encourage innovations in all aspects of the industry, as it is appropriate to predict that when broadband services become very much available in Nigeria as planned, it will also come with inevitable push for more innovations in the ways services are delivered today.

ITRealms also gathered that Etisalat Nigeria is partnering with the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in association with Etisalat Academy in Dubai and Billmort University, United Kingdom to train Nigerian engineers towards developing a pool of manpower for the telecom industry.

Daniel Nsolibe/Ed, Ops.


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