NCC licences Six new ISPs to challenge telcos, satellite giants - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has officially granted operating licences to six new Internet Service Providers (ISPs), signalling a major push to deepen competition in Nigeria’s broadband market, reports ITREALMS. 

The new licences, which became effective on January 1, 2026, ITREALMS gathered, have increased the total number of authorised ISPs in the country to 231, up from 225 recorded in December 2025. 

Open Internet: NCC’s balancing Act for telcos and OTTs by Remmy Nweke - Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS

Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

As WhatsApp, Zoom, and Netflix among others disrupt communication, Nigerian operators sought control. REMMY NWEKE, in this edition of Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS, writes how the NCC defended innovation, safeguarding digital freedom and powering Nigeria’s Over-The-Top (OTT) revolution.

Introduction:
When Over-The-Top (OTT) communication platforms began to dominate Nigeria’s telecom landscape between 2015 and 2016, a quiet battle erupted in policy circles. Apps such as WhatsApp, Zoom, Telegram, and Skype were changing how Nigerians communicated, offering instant messaging, video calls, and file sharing at virtually no extra cost beyond mobile data.

To mobile network operators (MNOs), this disruption was alarming. They had spent billions of naira building infrastructure, paying regulatory fees, and expanding coverage. Yet, consumers were now bypassing traditional voice and Short Messaging Service (SMS) offerings through Internet-based alternatives that rode on the very networks MNOs built.

NCC tasks telcos on network security, consumer safety - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country to comply with regulatory frameworks emplaced by the Commission towards ensuring security and safety of their networks for telecom consumers, reports ITREALMS.

The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, gave the charge at the 2023 annual Nigeria DigitalSense Forum, focused on Internet Governance for Development, which took place in Lagos recently.

Telcos commence harmonised shortcodes' implementation - ITREALMS

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The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has announced the commencement of harmonised short codes across all networks in pursuant to a regulatory modernisation initiative by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), reports ITREALMS.

The harmonisation of shortcodes are aimed at implementing a streamlined process for common shortcodes across the industry, by making life easier for Nigerians through the memorisation of single codes, for various services across all networks as well as providing a cohesive regulatory framework that is consistent with global best practices.

Confirmed! NCC orders telcos, 'suspend access to Twitter' - ITREALMS

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Telecommunication operators in the country have confirmed receipt of order from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to effect the suspension order on Twitter including citizens access, reports ITREALMS.

Confirming this to ITREALMS, the operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said they have received “order to suspend access to Twitter.”

N42bn indebtedness: Telcos to shut down USSD options - ITREALMS

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Bearing all unresolved over N42 billion indebtedness by the Nigerian banks, under the Financial Service Providers (FSPs), the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have concluded plans to shutdown the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) options with effect from Monday, March 15, 2021, reports ITREALMS.

USSD is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol that is used to send text messages and make digital financial transactions similar to the Short Messaging Service (SMS), thereby using codes made up of the characters that are available on a mobile phone.

Covid-19 lockdown: ATCON seeks free movement for telco's technical staff

ITREALMS: 

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has requested that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to initiate the process of National Right of passage for all technical staff of telecommunications companies in the event of foreseeable lockdown, reports ITREALMS.

ATCON through its Executive Secretary, Mr. Ajibola Olude noted this has become imperative because either the Federal Government or the State Government in an attempt to curb the spread of Coronavirus outbreak in the country.

"This request is made because of the essential nature of telecommunications infrastructures in managing the entire situation and the need for maintenance and repairs that may arise during the possible lockdown," he said.

ATCON, he said, counts on NCC to expedite action in this regard while they appreciated the Commission for being proactive and attentive.

"We also urge all our teeming members and their staff to comply with all the guidelines stipulated by the Federal Ministry of Health and all relevant authorities at State levels," ATCON Executive Secretary said.

Nenye Dom/Editor

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ALTON exonerates telcos, says banks endorsed end-user billing - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has exonerated its members from the current crisis of double billing of customers over the suspended charges on the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), reports ITREALMS.

ALTON also expressed concern over the public outcry that graced the planned commencement of the charges for the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) access to banking services and the subsequent suspension of the implementation by the Honourable Minister of Communications, Dr. Ibrahim Isa Pantami.

Reacting to the situation, ALTON chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo and Head of Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga, told ITREALMS that operators followed due process. 

ITREALMS recalls that the latest USSD billing was to commence on Monday, October 21, 2019 but was truncated by public condemnations and alleged fraudulent deductions.

ALSO READ: Pantami, CBN halt MTN, mobile operators planned N4...

In its response on this billing methodology, ALTON said, which involves banks customer being directly charged USSD access fees by telcos irrespective of the service charges that the bank may subsequently apply to the customers’ bank account.

This, ALTON described as ‘End-User Billing’ which the banks specifically “demanded that all our members implement.”

Also, ALTON said, the banks, however, provided no assurances that such service fees charged to customers’ bank accounts for access to bank services through the USSD channel will be discontinued post implementation of end-user billing by ALTON members.

“The removal of these service fees by the banks would have meant that if bank customers were charged only the USSD costs communicated by our members per USSD session, bank customers will be paying far less than what they are currently being charged by the banks which in some instances are as high as N50,” ALTON argued.

Stressing that banks and telco’s ought to be applauded for collaborating effectively towards the financial inclusion objectives of the Federal Government, rather than condemnation.

ALSO READ: Minister directs NCC to address costly, illegal de...

ALTON further beckoned on the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria to, as a matter of priority, convene a meeting of the financial and telecoms industry stakeholders to address this issue for the benefit of the consumers and other stakeholders.

Chuks Egbuna/Editor

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How GDPR impacts negatively on ventures, creates headache for telcos - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The latest research note from the Strand Consult has lamented how the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has impacted negatively on venture investments in Europe and will be headache for telecommunications industry, reports ITREALMS.

Many European politicians, Strand Consult said, have touted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as “leveling the playing field” against the American internet companies and empower European consumers.

Strand Consult was skeptical of these claims, having seen similar un-evidenced policymaking before on net neutrality. Indeed Strand Consult has documented how this policy has had the opposite of its intended effect. Net neutrality rules were supposed to create the next Google or Facebook from an EU country. Instead the only countries which have platforms that rival Google or Facebook are Russia and China, countries with no net neutrality rules.

As for GDPR, Strand Consult predicted in its report Understanding the GDPR and Its Unintended Consequences that the largest firms would benefit at the expense of small players and that consumers would experience either no improvement or a decline in utility. The report also describes how pseudo pro-consumer policies are a front to increased government power at the expense of consumer freedom. Strand Consult's predictions have proven true according to a variety of sources, as noted below.

The unintended consequences of GDPR are bad news for the telecom industry. They will have a negative impact on the value chain of companies that will develop and deliver services on top of the upcoming 5G networks in Europe. Strand Consult observes how the EU is already behind on pre-5G products and services, and that GDPR only makes it worse. The US and China are racing ahead on 5G and Europe continues to fall behind on network investment and 5G product and service development. Moreover Europeans are missing out on the social and technological transformations already afoot in the US and China where consumers have adopted pre-5G products and services.

Just as hard net neutrality regulation has been shown to have a negative impact on mobile app innovation, GDPR has shown a negative impact on venture capital investment. The National Bureau of Economic Research, the leading economic institute in the USA, has published research by the former chief economist of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and two academics at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Using Crunchbase data from VC deals in the US and EU from July 2017-Septeber 2018, it analyzes the post-GDPR effects on EU ventures, relative to their US counterparts. The negative effects manifest in the overall dollar amounts raised across funding deals, the number of deals, and the dollar amount raised per individual deal.

Specifically this has translated into a $3.38 million decrease in the aggregate dollars raised by EU ventures per state per catetory per week, a 17.6% reduction in the number of weekly venture deals, and a 39.6% decrease in the amount raised in an average deal following the rollout of GDPR. These declines are associated with losses projected between 3,000-30,000 jobs.

The paper was featured at a public hearing by the American competition authorities FTC which is conducting a process over many months to determine the actual impact of data regulation. The open and transparent policy process in the US makes a stark contrast to the EU where policy influencers can mask their identities. Unlike the US where filings to the policymaking process are collected online and made freedly available, no such database is available for the GDPR in the EU. As such, it is difficult, if not impossible, to know how and who influences policy in the EU.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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NCC may sanction telcos for call masking

ITREALMS:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is determined to impose the maximum possible penalties on any licensees implicated in the practice of masking of international telephone calls, reports ITRealms.

Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, gave this indication, saying that any operator of a license in Nigeria, mostly the interconnect exchange and other licensees involved in the practice would either be revoked or suspended in the coming week. 

As said by him, Commission and senior operatives from the nation’s security services met with representatives of the said licensees at the Commission’s Abuja Offices on Wednesday last week to confront them with some of the evidence at the disposal of the Commission and to give them yet another opportunity to defend themselves.

“In accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 and its subsidiary regulations, the implicated licensees have been given till the 31st of January to show cause why the Commission should not either revoke or suspend their operating licenses in view of evidence of their involvement now at the disposal of the Commission and the security agencies,” he said.

The Commission, he said, find these breaches as having critical impacts on national security and consumer experience, “NCC is determined to decisively deal with any of its licensees implicated in the scam.”

In addition, NCC, he said, would not want to expose the country to any further embarrassment, stressing that at the very least, “serious sanctions would be imposed on them if it is found that their involvement does not justify license or revocation of their licenses” said an official of the Commission familiar with the matter.”

Further, he told ITRealms that the Commission has taken the pains to very strictly follow the provisions of the applicable laws so that on one can claim to be unfairly treated, given the severity of the sanctions the Commission is planning to impose.

Meanwhile, customer experience data monitored by the Commission indicates that there has been a noticeable reduction in the volume of masked calls being received by subscribers. This is reflective of the very aggressive measures the Commission is taking to deal with the menace.

“Nonetheless, we are not taking anything for granted. We will continue to aggressively monitor all our licensees regardless of their size or the scope of their operations. Anyone found wanting would be strictly dealt with in accordance with law” Ojobo declared.

ITRealms gathered that the licensees involved include Interconnect Cleaning House Nigeria Limited, Niconnx Communication Limited, Breeze Micro Limited, Solid Interconnectivity and Exchange Telecommunications Limited, and Medallion Communications Limited.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Foreign vendors issue disconnection notice to Nigerian telcos

ITRealms:

The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has revealed that some foreign vendors of telecommunications equipment have issued “Notice of Disconnection” to its members, over their inability to meet with the current unfavourable credit terms, reports ITRealms.

Chairman, ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, made this disclosure to ITRealms at the recent breakfast session with members of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos.

He listed some three adverse impacts to telecom sector due to lack of exemption of the sector from Foreign Exchange (FX) priority list by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

These, he said, include an increased operating cost, unfavourable credit terms and  delayed implementation of network enhancement as well as improvement initiatives.

On increased operating cost, he noted that in the absence of local substitutes for its plant and machinery, the telecommunications service providers are constrained to source FX from interbank market at higher rates compared to other sectors such as manufacturing, aviation and agriculture accorded priority in FX allocation at reduced rates by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“Owing to the prevailing economic situation in the country, ALTON members cannot transfer the increased cost burden to the consumers, thereby contracting profitability and ability to make further investment to drive growth in the industry,” he said.

The ALTON boss also pointed out that the unfavourable credit terms has made it very challenging for operators to honour their obligations to foreign vendors as at when due.  This has occasioned delayed payment to equipment suppliers and other foreign vendors, who have now resorted to imposing unfavourable payment terms on telecommunications service providers in Nigeria. 

“Some of the Foreign Vendors had issued Notice of Disconnection of service, which could disrupt service availability with attendant impact on customers’ experience,” he revealed.

ALTON noted with dismay that delayed implementation of network enhancement and improvement initiatives, recalling that ALTON members made commitments intended to ensure the implementation of National Quality of Service (QoS) Fixing Project.

This, he said, is a coordinated network investment plan supervised by the Nigerian Communications Commission at designated locations nationwide over a period of time by the Telecommunications Service Providers to ensure improved QoS. 

“The continuity of this initiative is dependent on obtaining FX to import equipment required to carry out the intended national QoS Fixing Project.  ALTON is of the view that if proactive measures are not taken to ensure easy access to FX, the National QoS Fixing Project is likely to be adversely impacted to the detriment of the citizenry and economy.

ALTON requested CBN to include Telecommunications Equipment and Invisibles among the list of items/Sectors to be allocated from the 60 per cent FX availability by the Banks.

“This is to ensure the continued provision of world-class telecommunications services to the consumers,” he said.

Sherif Ayilara/GEE

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West African telcos battle declining ARPU says IDC

ITRealms:

The telecommunications companies across Africa and especially in West Africa are increasingly focusing on effectively maximizing their return on investment from data and on monetizing emerging opportunities such as the Internet of Things (IoT) to remain competitive and afloat, reports ITRealms.

The research director for telecommunications, media, and IoT at International Data Corporation (IDC), Mr. George Kalebaila, made this disclosure, attributing this largely to increasing levels of competition that is forcing them to seek new methods to stem the steady decline of traditional voice services via the Average Revenues Per User (ARPUs).

ITRealms gathered that ARPU also known as average revenue per unit is a measure used primarily by consumer communications and networking companies, defined as the total revenue divided by the number of subscribers over a given period or month.

"We expect to see greater market consolidation as telcos increase their efforts to acquire smaller ISPs in response to the challenging marketing conditions," he said.

Kalebaila was particular about telcos operating in West Africa, saying this has been driven by heightened market saturation, declining average revenues per user (ARPUs), increasing operating expenditure, and diminishing profit margins on services.

As such, he said, IDC expects some consolidation within the market, especially between local ISPs that possess 4G LTE frequencies and fibre-to-the-x (FTTX) infrastructure and multinational telcos with solid financial support.

In markets where 4G adoption is already gaining traction, discussions around fifth-generation network technology (5G) will take center stage, creating awareness and bringing the possibilities and expectations of future data networks to the forefront.

"IDC expects vendors to focus on the higher bandwidth 5G offers and the technology's potential ability to support emerging services such as IoT, seamless video on demand or Internet Protocol Tv (IPTV), drone video recording, smart city solutions, and virtual reality applications," Kalebaila said.

IDC, ITRealms reports also expected 5G to deliver gigabit connections that enable the seamless delivery of rich multimedia services and applications.

As competition continues to increase in Africa's more mature telecom and IT markets, the need to attract and retain customers through differentiation has become imperative. This means that telcos must move beyond traditional connectivity offerings and provide IT services such as unified communications and collaboration, cloud, and datacenter services.

"In the medium to long term, telcos will be forced to re-evaluate their business models to efficiently design, develop, and deliver cost-effective solutions and services," Kalebaila said.

He pointed out that this may compel telcos to migrate from operating legacy networks to deploying agile systems that are capable of increasing operational efficiency while speeding up the time to market of new solutions.

“Those telcos that prioritize technologies such as network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) for the delivery of connectivity, cloud, and datacenter services will be well placed to maximize cost savings, achieve greater efficiency, and increase productivity," he said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Multipower targets telcos with inverters, solar solutions

ITRealms:

 An authorized distributor for Exide in Nigeria, the Multipower Global Solutions Ltd is targeting telecommunications with grade battery and inverters with index battery as well as solar solutions, reports ITRealms.

The company which claimed to be one of the most trusted  power backup solution brands emerging in Nigeria, ITRealms gathered, that through the authorized distributors for Exide in Nigeria, customers could get get premium quality Exide (Index) deep cycle batteries especially meant for corporate sector. 

Onyinye Egwuatu of corporate services, Multipower, informed ITRealms that “Exide is one of the oldest largest manufacturers of batteries having footprints in this industry since world war 1.”

She also said they are at present into nearly all kinds of batteries, to name a few- deep cycle, useful for telecom, traction among others, thus they specializes in building customized industry solutions for various sectors.

 

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