The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has started a two-day training programme for select media practitioners on emerging trends in telecoms and Information Communication Technology (ICT).
The Commission said that the training, which began yesterday, November 14, has been designed to keep telecoms and ICT reporters abreast of emerging trends, regulatory strides and prospects in the telecoms industry.
The Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, kick-started the training by stressing that it was in line with the vision of the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Dr. Aminu Maida.
He said that Dr. Maida insisted that its stakeholders and media partners should learn, relearn and well equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.
Meanwhile, in a lecture, titled: “Overview of the Nigerian Telecoms Industry and the Roles of the NCC,” a top management staff of the Commission, Nwanko Okorie, said that the responsibility of the NCC, as a regulatory agency, is to protect younger operators and ensure that giant operators do not stifle them out of the market.
She advised the Commission to allow for healthy competition and ensure discourage monopoly in the telecommunications industry.
According to Okorie, as at September 2024, there were 153 million GSM subscribers in the country.
“A lot of people will question why we have 153 million subscribers from the previous 198 million. This is because of the SIM-NIN linkage. “When we did that SIM-NIN linkage, we found out that so many numbers were not in use.
“So when we now deactivated those numbers, the number of subscribers came down to 153 million and the broadband penetration of the 3G and 4G is about 41.66 per cent.
“The telecoms industry has contributed about 16 per cent of the GDP. “Some people will tell you that telecommunication is the next oil.”
Other speakers spoke on various topical issues, including data journalism and visualization tools, consumers and data usage, connectivity and resilience and digital economy, among others.
The training is being held in Lagos, and is featuring different sessions by senior officials from selected departments of the Commission and experts in relevant fields.
