The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has set up a committee to determine new call termination rates and review the Special Numbering Service segment of the telecoms sector as it moves to ensure sustainability and profitability.
The NCC disclosed this at its stakeholders’ forum on the ‘Determination of call termination rate for special numbering service providers in Nigeria’ in Abuja.
According to the Director, Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis at NCC, Yetunde Akinloye, SNS licensees have been complaining to the commission about high rates and charges by Mobile Network Operators.
She said, “The commission had observed that the uptake of the numbers has been abysmally poor, contrary to NCC’s expectation as the sectoral regulator.
“The NCC has also received complaints from the licensees regarding the perceived high rates and charges by MNOs who are owners of the major infrastructure being used by SNS providers to deliver services to end users.”
According to her, the NCC has set up a committee to do a complete review of the SNS market segment, research similar markets in other jurisdictions for benchmarking, and determine the appropriate call termination rates.
She said the commission was bothered about the perceived high cost of delivering services to end-users by SNS players.
Akinloye said, “This meeting is convened to discuss issues pertaining to the special numbering services segment of the Nigerian telecommunications market.
“Statutorily, the NCC is the custodian and manager of the toll-free and non-toll-free numbers licences, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The SNS has been in existence for the past 15 years, with some licensees actively engaged in the segment. “However, we have noted some observations and complaints from different quarters on the use of these numbers. We have observed, for instance, that there has been no effective utilisation of the numbers.”
According to the Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, NCC, Bako Wakil, the SNS segment of the telecoms market had not been fully maximised because of its high cost element.
Wakil said, “So, there has to be a way of making people use the service more if the price is appropriate.
“In the last 15 years of introducing SNS providers, there are less than 3,000 people using the service and yet, we have licensed additional number of players in the segment.”
He added that the commission was looking at profitability, sustainability and vibrancy of the Value-Added Service segment.
