NCC’s chief executive officer, Prof Garba Dambatta while addressing a world press conference at the NCC’s head office in Abuja, said the N47bn revenue was made possible as a result of the eight-point agenda adopted when he took office.
Dambatta was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2015 to replace Dr Eugene Juwah, and charged by the president to pursue the change agenda of the government.
The Nation reports that the NCC boss claimed a quick turnaround at the NCC has seen broadband penetration in Nigeria moving from between 8 and 10 per cent to 20.95 per cent, while internet penetration has hit 47.44 per cent which is second only to South Africa.
Concerning the sale of frequencies, Dambatta said: “The Commission has encouraged the refarming of the various frequencies to improve their efficiency. Through this process, some service providers who were hitherto providing services on the 1800 megahertz (MHz) spectrum band have been allowed to refarm and deploy services on the 4GLTE band. Through this, the Commission has been able to revive some of the companies whose services have been hampered by the characteristics of the frequencies.
“Through efficient monitoring and value-driven usage of spectrum for provision of different types of service, revenue generation for the Federal Government through frequency allocation and renewal fees have improved in the previous years. More than N47billion was realised in spectrum usage and licensing within the period under review.”
The NCC executive vice-chairman who stated that the telecommunications sector now contributes more than 10 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country commended President Buhari and the minister of communications, Mr Bayo Shittu for the leadership they have provided.
Dambatta also warned mobile network operators (MNOs) against subscriber identity module (SIM) card preregistration reminding them of the consequences of their action.
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