The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria has said the approval of NITDA bill will lead to a loss of confidence in the telecom sector by local and international investors.
The association stated this in a memorandum signed by the National President, Tony Emoekpere, to the Senate Committee on the NITDA Bill as cited by The PUNCH
According to ATCON, the bill being put forward by the National Information Technology Development Agency, “Will have a direct impact on the operations of our member companies, hence we are compelled to make our position on the subject matter known to the National Assembly after the draft Bill has been reviewed by our members.
“The bill if passed, possess great danger to the telecom and ICT industry in Nigeria as it will ultimately lead to loss of confidence by both local and international investors in the telecom and ICT sector of the Nigerian economy.”
ATCON added that the proposed bill permits “The takeover of telecom and ICT infrastructure by NITDA based in their determination that they should do that without going through any legal process, and that means any private business can be shut down or taken over by NITDA at will. This will destroy investors’ confidence in the sector.”
It noted the transition the bill would pose for NITDA, which is to transform the “Development agency to a regulator and the proposed mandate directly infringes on the regulatory activities of other regulators including the banking, financial services, insurance, health care, commerce, education, agriculture, telecommunications etc.”
ATCON maintained that the bill would cut across these other sectors, which would be in direct conflict to the roles of the established regulators in these sectors.
It also stated that the bill’s role and services were ambiguous. It said, “It is not clear the role and services this company will be involved in, but it is contrary to the policy of the government in deregulating the economy and not creating state-operated companies that will be in direct competition to the public sector.”
It added that this would create a situation where the regulator is also competing with the companies it regulates and raises questions in the area of neutrality.
The document read in part, “The bill imposes huge penalties and fees on the companies doing business in the country. The private sector is already suffering from multiple taxes and a huge burden on the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
“This bill if passed will worsen the financial burden on the Nigerian citizens as the private sector will ultimately pass this cost of business to the citizens in the form of higher tariff.
“The proposed NITDA 2022 Bill infringes on the functions of the NCC as stated in the NCA 2003. Two agencies of government in the same space will create unnecessary double regulation, double taxation, confusion, discourage capital investment and negatively impact the ease of doing business initiative of the Federal Government.”
Over the years, ATCON noted that the stability of the regulatory environment in the telecom sector in Nigeria had attracted much-needed Foreign Director Investment and domestic investment in the telecom sector in Nigeria.
“Summary, our members are opposed to the passage of the bill in the current format because it will have very devastating and negative consequences on the entire industry in terms of reduced capital importation to the industry, loss of confidence by both local and international investors, unnecessary overlapping and duplication of regulation and objectives which are already captured in the Nigerian Communication ACT 2003.”
ATCON said any actions that had the potential to kill the telecoms industry should be avoided by all tiers of government in Nigeria, as the proposed bill was geared towards setting a very dangerous precedent of imposing NITDA as the sole regulator of the economy.
The association said the NITDA Bill is geared towards “arrogating powers to itself and making monies from not only telecommunication companies but the entire strata of the economy which we can foresee and predict that is going to create unnecessary tension and legal tussles in the country.”
