In its bid to further improve communication across the country, the regulatory environment and internetwork practices, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has rolled out new guidelines for infrastructure sharing, co-location and National Roaming services in the country.
Infrastructure Sharing is the joint use of network facilities by two or more operators subject to agreement specifying relevant technical and commercial conditions.
On the other hand, co-location refers to the placement of transmission equipment owned by the interconnection demanding operator in the premises of the interconnection providing operator for interconnection to that operator’s network.
While National Roaming allows SIM cards to use more operators in a country. This can be a big advantage to be certain of good coverage in a country. If your device is at a location with poor reception, it can switch to the best network. In case of a network outage, it switches to another network for continued service.
The policy documents are seeking to permit the licensees to enter into agreements for the purpose of providing National Roaming services, infrastructure sharing, and co-location in Nigeria, subject to the prior approval of the Commission.
Though this is not the first time the NCC is setting up such guidelines, the current efforts are geared towards improving existing guidelines in line with new demands and the emergence of new technologies.
Section 70 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 empowers the NCC to issue such guidelines and carried out periodic reviews as it would be necessary.
The National Roaming guideline seeks to remove uncertainty and ensure seamless communication across all networks in Nigeria.
The 34.page National roaming guidelines document covers legal, technical, operational and maintenance and commercial provisions
According to the commission, the guidelines shall apply only to holders of licences validly issued by the Commission, containing a condition that makes the holder eligible to enter into a national roaming service agreement.
It also stated that the national roaming services shall be provided within the geographical boundaries of Nigeria.
The commission also noted that the guidelines are to be read in conjunction with the Act, the Collocation Guidelines, Interconnection Regulations, Quality of Service Regulations, Competition Practices Regulations, other subsidiary legislations that may be issued by the Commission from time to time, and relevant Licence Conditions.
Meanwhile, the NCC has declared that one of the procedures for national roaming is that duly authorised service providers shall request and negotiate National Roaming Agreements with each other on bilateral and non-discriminatory terms.
The Commission reserves the right to request for additional information or amendment of relevant parts of the National Roaming Agreement in order to comply with the provisions of the Act, these Guidelines, and any other relevant subsidiary legislation or regulatory instrument.
The infrastructure and co-location guideline, a 31-page document covers several areas among which are general rules for Co-location/Infrastructure Sharing, general rules for active infrastructure sharing and the role of the Commission.
The guidelines on Co-location and Infrastructure Sharing between Access Providers and Access Seekers within a predetermined framework would remove uncertainty and create an environment for better cooperation, according to the NCC document.
The guideline as released on NCC’ official website, was incepted from a premise that all Access Providers and Access Seekers have the liberty to negotiate C/IS arrangements in accordance with mutually agreed terms.
Other aims of the guidelines according to the NCC is to ensure that the incidence of unnecessary duplication of infrastructure is minimised or completely avoided and protect the environment by reducing the proliferation of infrastructure and facilities installations.
