Is President Olusegun Obasanjo's proposed National Dialogue the way forward for Nigeria?
NCC Meets GSM Operators Over Recharge Cards
By Tayo Ajakaye, 12.13.2004
With less than eighteen days to the expiration of the deadline given telephone operators to source their recharge cards locally, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is today meeting with all four GSM operators and licenced recharge cards manufacturers in the country over the issue. The meeting called at the instance of the NCC was coming at a time when only one GSM operator, MTN, had expressed that it might not be able to meet the governmentís deadline. The Company only last Monday listened to presentations by eight recharge cards manufacturers for the first time since government announced the ban, and got tenders only last Friday. THISDAY can confirm that the MTN lobby seems to be yielding result as an official of the NCC told our correspondent that the Minister for Communications have been in communication with the Presidency over the MTNís inability to meet the governmentís deadline. The official who denied that NCC would do anything to encourage MTNís obvious determination not to abide by the directive also said that the NCC was aware that many of the operators have stockpiled enough recharge cards to last them for upwards of three to six months from the time the ban takes effect in January. Meanwhile, the jostling for the job of the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission became hotter weekend with the disclosure that private telecom operators are sponsoring one of their own to replace Ernest Ndukwe whose tenure expires February 2005. An official of the Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) told THISDAY on condition of anonymity, that operators were aggrieved at the perceived unwillingness of the current NCC management to take principled stand on issues especially those that would enhance the smooth operation of fixed wireless operators. According to the source, Ndukwe was also seeing as being too close to the GSM operators whom they say he had the penchant for pampering. However, a member of the board of the Commission, whose tenure ends April next year, two years after Ndukweís tenure said he does not think that government would change a winning team since according to him, ìI think we are doing a good job.
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