NCC set to audit telcos operating levies

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is set to audit the revenues accruing to telecommunication operators in the country in order to ensure that they are remitting the exact amounts to the regulatory agency, according to Prof. Umaru Danbatta, executive vice chairman (EVC) of the NCC.

Danbatta stated this when he hosted Mr. Adebayo Shittu, minister of Communications who paid a working visit to the commission in Abuja on Wednesday, adding that it had become necessary to probe the revenues accruing to the companies in order to ensure that they were not cheating the government.

Daily Times gathered that Telecommunications operators remit 2.5 percent of their revenues to the NCC as annual operating levy.

Out of this amount, 40 percent is reserved for the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to bridge the gap in un-served and underserved communities, while 60 percent is used for running the commission.

He disclosed that three consulting companies have been pencilled down for the job to ascertain the revenues accruing to the companies and how much should come to the NCC as annual operating levy.

“We have established a need to check whether the NCC is being short-changed or not,” EVC NCC said.

According to him, 40 million Nigerians had not been reached by telecommunications signals, while NCC had identified 207 gaps across the country that needed the intervention of the regulatory agency to ensure that services were extended to the communities.

He also hinted that the NCC had recently developed three new regulatory frameworks, one of which had been used for licensing two infrastructure companies.

Danbatta said the commission had also identified that Nigeria was paying too high for terminating calls in other countries and stressed that measures would be taken to correct this development, which also make Nigerian operators receive little or nothing for terminating foreign calls.

He also appealed with the government to consider the entire industry in the new Communications Tax Bill that is before the National Assembly.

The Minister had earlier informed the NCC boss of the need to do something about the poor quality of services obtainable in the country.

“It must be noted that Nigerians are complaining. Even me as the Minister of Communications, I receive unsolicited messages and calls. When you complain, they will ask you to press something to discontinue; and even when you do that, they will still continue to charge you. This is very wrong.

“Also, the issue of dropped calls is still very rampant across the country and nobody is excluded from this. We must do something to stop this because if we do not, the Nigerian people will see us as failures who are not capable of protecting their interests,” Shittu added.