TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Make Written Submissions To The Ongoing Review Of The National Telecommunications Policy 2000, NCC Tells Stakeholders

<h4>Make Written Submissions To The Ongoing Review Of The National Telecommunications Policy 2000<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Nigerian Communications Commission &lpar;NCC&rpar;<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>has called on interested industry stakeholders to make written submissions to the Commission on the ongoing review of the National Telecommunications Policy &lpar;NTP&rpar; 2000&comma; whose consultation paper has been published on the Commission’s website&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to a statement signed by Mrs&period; Nnenna Ukoha&comma; Head&comma; Public Affairs and made available to OpenLife&comma; the Commission has set Friday&comma; March 20&comma; 2026&comma; as the deadline for all submissions from stakeholders to be addressed to the Executive Vice Chairman&sol;CEO of the Commission or sent to the dedicated email&colon; stakeholders&commat;ncc&period;gov&period;ng&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The consultation process&comma; which is in exercise of the Commission’s functions under the Nigerian Communications Act &lpar;NCA&rpar;&comma; 2003 and upon the activation of the provisions of Section 24 &lpar;1&rpar; of the Act on conducting consultative processes for the review of policies&comma; is the first step in the public consultation process to guide the review of the subsisting NTP 2000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The review of the NTP follows the inauguration of a Ministerial Steering Committee &lpar;MSC&rpar; and a Ministerial Technical Committee &lpar;MTC&rpar; by the Hon&period; Minister of Communications&comma; Innovation and Digital Economy&comma; Dr&period; Bosun Tijani&comma; to commence the process of reviewing the NTP 2000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Section 24 &lpar;1&rpar; of the NCA&comma; 2003 states that <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Prior to the formulation or review of the general policy for the Nigerian communications sector&comma; the Minister shall cause the Commission on his behalf to first carry out a public consultative process on the proposed policy formulation or modification&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The policy review will also align with the Hon&period; Minister’s Strategic Blueprint- Accelerating Our Collective Prosperity through Technical Efficiency&comma; which states that the Ministry will drive the review of the Telecoms Policy to account for core issues such as spectrum management&comma; universal access&comma; broadband penetration&comma; net neutrality and quality of service &lpar;QoS&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hence&comma; the consultation process and its outcome will support the work of the MSC and the Implementation Committee &lpar;IC&rpar; in coming up with a reviewed policy that will meet the current challenges of the communications sector and keep up with the rapid and dynamic changes since the current NTP was issued 25 years ago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC&comma; Dr&period; Aminu Maida&comma; said in the published consultation paper&comma; that the process will lead to the development of the first draft of the NTP 2026 to replace the existing NTP 2000&comma; following 25 years of implementation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The draft will also undergo further consultations to enable stakeholders to make more input before a final draft is subjected to the statutory policy approval and validation processes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The NTP 2000 has been instrumental to advancing Nigeria’s telecom sector from where it was 25 years ago – from a mere 500&comma;000 lines to almost 180 million active mobile connections as of December 2026&period; One of the gaps that the revised policy seeks to address is the increased demand for data services and its externalities&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is a first step in the consultation process and there will be other layers of engagements&comma; to ensure that the final draft accommodates varied expertise&comma; feedback and inputs from a cross section of stakeholders&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> Maida said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He implored stakeholders to take the opportunity to participate in developing the policy that will take the communications sector to the next level after the immeasurable successes attained since 2000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The NTP 2000 marked a major progression from older policies&comma; aiming for liberalisation&comma; modernisation&comma; and competition under then nascent democratic government&period; NTP replaced the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">1998 Policy<&sol;a> and successfully paved the way for the growth of mobile telephony and the eventual NCA 2003 by focusing on market deregulation and stakeholder consultation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the ongoing review&comma; there are 15 key policy proposals&comma; which form the baseline for the review and potential changes to the existing NTP and provide both the context and policy purpose for necessary changes&period; The policy proposal caters to regulation of the industry&comma; its sustainability&comma; emerging technologies&comma; national security&comma; among others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the EVC&comma; the expected feedback will guide the review and amendment of the NTP in line with the expectations of the NCA&comma; 2003&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The consultation process is open to licensees in the Nigerian communications sector&comma; consumers&comma; agencies of government&comma; international agencies&sol;partners&sol;entities&comma; Civil Society Organisations &lpar;CSOs&rpar;&comma; individuals and other interested stakeholders&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Openlife Reporter

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