We Strike The Right Balance In Protecting Consumers And Rewarding Efficiency—Omotayo Mohammed, NCC Head, Competition And Tariff

<h4>We Strike The Right Balance In Protecting Consumers And Rewarding Efficiency<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that telecom sector regulator&comma; the Nigerian Communications Commission &lpar;NCC&rpar; has said that the telecom market has evolved significantly over the past years&comma; necessitating the right balance for open market sustainability&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This was the highlight of the opening remarks by Mrs Omotayo Mohammed&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">NCC<&sol;a> Head&comma; Competition and Tariff&comma; at the Stakeholders’ Forum on the Study on the Level of Competition in the Nigerian Telecom Industry held at Ikeja Sheraton Hotel&comma; Lagos on Tuesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to her&comma; revenue models have shifted&comma; investment patterns have changed&comma; and new forms of market interaction have emerged&period; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are witnessing rapid technological change&comma; evolving consumer expectations and usage patterns&comma; rising investment costs&comma; and heightened competitive pressures&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Concurrently&comma; concerns around barriers to entry&comma; market concentration&comma; sustainability of smaller players&comma; and quality of service continue to warrant careful consideration&period; These dynamics highlight the importance of continuous validation of competition policy assumptions against current market evidence&comma;”<&sol;strong> <&sol;em>she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She underscored the need for commitment to a sector that has become the backbone of the nation’s digital economy&comma; contributing about 9&period;1per cent to national <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">GDP<&sol;a> as at Q3 2025&period; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The telecommunications sector serves as a critical enabler of growth&comma; inclusion&comma; innovation and service delivery across all sectors of the economy&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> Mrs Mohammed said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;31893" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-31893" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-31893" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2026&sol;01&sol;HH0A9997-scaled-e1768484958718-300x142&period;jpg" alt&equals;"We Strike The Right Balance In Protecting Consumers And Rewarding Efficiency---Omotayo Mohammed&comma; NCC Head&comma; Competition And Tariff" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"142" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-31893" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>L-R &colon; Dr Olubunmi Otti&comma; Zonal Coordinator&comma; Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission &lpar;FCCPC&rpar; South-West Zone&semi; Mrs Omotayo Muhammad&comma; Head Competition and Tariff&comma; Nigerian Communications Commission &lpar;NCC&rpar;&semi; Mary Iwelumo&comma; Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers &lpar; PwC&rpar;&comma; at the stakeholders&&num;8217&semi; forum <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>According to her&comma; competition is the engine that drives innovation&comma; affordability&comma; and consumer choice&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But competition must also be fair&comma; effective&comma; and sustainable&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&&num;8220&semi;Our task as a regulator is to strike the right balance&comma; one that protects consumers&comma; rewards efficiency and investment&comma; and keeps the market open to new ideas and new entrants&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The last comprehensive&comma; industry-wide competition study undertaken by the Commission was concluded in 2013&period; A few targeted&comma; bespoke studies have since been conducted across specific services and market segments such as Mobile Voice Termination Rate 2018 and Mobile Voice International Termination Rate 2022&period;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;However&comma; developments in technology&comma; market structure&comma; and consumer behavior now necessitate a holistic reassessment of competition across the telecommunications value chain&comma;”<&sol;em><&sol;strong> she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;