ERNEST NDUKWE

In Nigeria, the ICT Industry has been boosted in the last seven years with about 55 million telephone lines connected to date. When compared to a total subscriber level of less than half a million in July 2001, the growth has no doubt been phenomenal. This rapid growth can be attributed largely to the enabling and conducive environment for investment with respect to government policy and regulatory regime.

As we strive to catch up with the world, it is imperative that Nigeria remains in tune with technological trends in this fast moving industry. One obvious fact is that the technological borders between telecommunications, IT and broadcasting is blurring at a quickening pace. Another fact is the trend towards the realization of a ubiquitous network society where people can access and exchange information freely, at any time, from anywhere, and from any appliance in converged ICT environment.

Historically, different forms of information, namely voice, video and data were transmitted employing diverse delivery networks. Also such modes of information were accessed through different end-user equipment. Each service had been tightly linked to a specific form of infrastructure and end-user equipment.

Owing to technological and market developments, this scenario has changed over time as evidenced by the:

* Integration of customer terminal equipment or access devices such as the telephone, television and personal computer;
* Provision of various communication services like text, data, image, voice and video over a single infrastructure;
* The use of a single transmission technology to offer various services;
* The provision of multifarious service offerings by the same service provider;
* Substitution of mobile services for fixed service, resulting in a converged voice service market; and
* Authorization to provide various services under a single licence.
* Converged Policy and Regulatory

The role of policy makers and regulators will revolve around serving the consumer interest; supporting universal access to services at affordable cost; securing effective competition and the competitiveness of the industry as a whole; promoting quality, plurality, diversity and choice in services; encouraging investment in service and infrastructure; providing economically efficient management of scarce resources.

Policy has often been slow in catching up with technological developments, and it is our intention not to allow this state of affairs to prevail. It is clear that our response to the reality of convergence which is being driven by technology is to adopt a technology neutral/ service neutral licensing policy. This will no doubt, offer solution to a number of issues plaguing regulation in the industry.

In Nigeria, the objectives of the Federal Government were clearly set out in the National Telecommunications Policy (NTP). Recognizing that the availability of an efficient and reliable telecommunications system is a key ingredient for promoting rapid socio-economic development, government declared its overriding objective to “achieve the modernization and rapid expansion of the telecommunications network and services in Nigeria”.

The NTP, recognizing the rapidly changing nature of technology had set out some short term and medium term objectives. One of such medium term objective of the NTP aims: “To provide a new regulatory environment that is sufficiently flexible to take into account new technological development and the international trend towards convergence.”

It is clear that the NTP actually recognized the catalyzing role of technology for improving access to telecommunications services in the country. It is also instructive that even in the year 2000 when the NTP was adopted the issue of convergence already occupied a prime place in the thinking of the ICT community.

Today, Nigeria is rated as one of the world’s fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world. However there is still a lot to be done to fully meet the objectives of ensuring that telecommunications facilities become pervasive all over Nigeria. One of the strategies the NCC intends to employ to keep pace with technological trends and achieve the goals include the converged licensing option. Licensing must necessarily be a continuously evolving process. It has been argued that if left unchanged a licensing policy may become an obstacle to the development of an ICT market. Preserving onerous and complicated licensing requirements creates artificial barriers to market entry and hinder competition.

Licensing has moved from the era of only granting individual licenses for all conceivable undertakings to the issuance of class licences and general authorizations. Individual licences are now mostly limited to those seeking scarce resources or deploying networks on a significant scale.

As regulatory frameworks become better established, regulatory authorities are more willing to reduce regulatory intervention at the point of market entry. In the traditional licensing classification, a license is based on the type of service, facility or technology provided. However the exponential and continual advancement in technology has almost rendered this classification irrelevant. Additionally the phenomenon of convergence is placing increasing strain on such traditional licensing practices. Some of the licensing options that have been introduced and have become prevalent in recent times include; General authorization, class license, unified or converged license, facilities and service based licences, etc.

Historically, different networks were used to deliver voice, video and data and end users use different equipment to receive these services, however technological developments have radically changed this scenario and have also bred a multiplicity of ICT services and applications. A converged licensing is a tool allowing competing operators and service providers to rapidly deploy new services to meet market demand without having to seek new licences.

New technologies such as VOIP, Wi-fi, Wimax etc have gradually blurred the distinction between services. In jurisdiction where such new technologies have been banned or discouraged in one way or another, Regulators in those domains have found that such regulatory action was myopic in the long run and did not stop the usage of the technology but rather encouraged the users to go underground.

Progressive regulators now opt for a more liberal approach to these issues and are discovering that in a converging world it is dangerous to resist change.

Benefits of convergence to ICT stakeholders
Convergence in the ICT sector has been identified as capable of yielding numerous benefits for all stakeholders of the industry – the economy/government, the regulator, the operators and the consumers. It facilitates a conflict free ICT environment and it enhances quicker rollout and growth of both wireless telephony and internet access.
For the Regulator, it simplifies the procedure of licensing and promotes flexibility and efficient utilization of scarce resources. It also enhances easy entry and level playing field for all operators.

For the Operators, it would afford each operator the freedom to provide any service with convenient technology under a single authorization. It would enhance economies of scale and greater efficiency as a result of optimum sharing of infrastructure and resources. It would also lead to cheaper cost of providing services.

Conclusion
The Telecoms sector continues to play a very important role in the economic and social development of Nigeria and it is expected that this role will continue into expand in the future. The significant role played by investors in achieving the exponential growth attained so far must be recorgnised and acknowledged. Government is therefore committed to providing policy and regulatory enablement to encourage the investor and lenders.

As policy makers and regulators, government is committed to providing a level playing ground to all investors so that the nation remains attractive to investors. We must also continue to create an environment for the widespread and successful implementation of digital technologies and services. To ensure that technology is adequately harnessed to maximize the reach and depth of services, the Commission will continue to pay special attention to the key parts of our regulatory framework that facilitate investment and technological innovation.

By-and-large the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry remains an investment haven for prospective investors. The good news is, the Nigerian telecommunications marketplace is going to get bigger and better. We will continue to encourage investment in the sector and continue to design ways to modernise our regulatory processes to meet needs of the consumers and other stakeholders. The target is to achieve an all-inclusive information society in Nigeria.

• Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, made this presentation at the IT Edge Convergence Forum, held Friday August 22, 2008 in Lagos.