Maida calls for collaboration, says good service in telecom non-negotiable

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, says quality of service in the telecommunications sector is non-negotiable.

Maida, however, assured of collaborations within the industry and commitment to transparency in the telecom ecosystem.

The NCC boss said this at an interactive session with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in the industry in Lagos on Thursday.

He told the industry chieftains to appreciate that they have a very important role to play in the industry to consolidate on the achievements already recorded in the sector, which he said is an enabler of Nigeria’s digital economy.

Maida noted that the expectations of telecom consumers are very high, saying: “People actually expect telecom services to work. I don’t think they really appreciate what it takes to deliver these services.

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“So, it has come to a stage they just see telecom service as utility like water and electricity. Like a social service, it needs to work. We need to really come together in the industry and deliver value to the customer.

“When it comes to compliance, this is an area where we are going to be placing a lot more focus, and things are going to be a lot more urgent.  I am not going to be asking for compliance after the fact. That is going to be a very key area of focus for me.

“So, we owe it to ourselves to benchmark ourselves against the best, not against other sectors. We have to just take ourselves as setting the benchmark for every person else. So, let people compare and say we have to be as good as telecom.”

On broadband, Maida said the NCC has a short time to do much, added: “A lot has been done with the Infrastructure Company (InfraCo) licensing. We just have to re-imagine, look at it again, and see whether that is the right approach and re-imagine how we approach it.

“We now need to start getting into the states, and perhaps we might need to sit down and see how we can do that differently. Again, on the broadband issue, we need to increase the investment.”

Speaking, the CEOs, who expressed delight at the consultative approach of Maida, promised to work closely in support of his mandate.

The Star