With the deadline to meet the analogue-to-digital broadcast transmission target less than four years away, the House of Representatives Committee on Communications and MTN Nigeria have stressed the need for greater collaboration between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), and the National Frequency Management Board (NFMB) for the effective spectrum planning and allocation.
According to them, the collaboration will ensure the release of more spectrums to free up digital dividends that will enable operators not only to improve telecommunications services, but also deepen service penetration in the country.
Digital Dividend is the amount of spectrum that will be freed up in the switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial TV. It is located between 200 MHz and 1GHz. The digital dividend band is attractive because it offers good in-building coverage in urban areas and low cost coverage in rural areas.
At a press conference after a tour of MTN Network Management Centre in Lagos, the 12-man House Committee members, led by Acting Chairman, Hon. Usman Bawa, after expressing satisfaction about MTN’s facilities at the Ojota switch centre, said achieving digital dividend requires greater collaboration between NCC and NBC, to facilitate more spectrum usage in the country and improve quality of service delivery.
Bawa stressed the need for operators in the telecoms sector to improve their service offerings through network upgrade and investments across the country to mitigate the increasing poor quality of service in the country, adding that oversight checks on telecoms services would not be limited to the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) providers alone.
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