Page 128 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2023

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ni- munities across the country. According to an online
geria’s telecommunications regulatory body has grant- report, telecom regulators have established various
ed licenses to 25 companies to provide mobile telecom- categories of licenses within the MVNO framework.
Nigeria munications services under the Mobile Virtual Network These categories range from tier 1 to tier 5. However,
among the 25 companies that have been licensed so
Operator (MVNO) framework. This is coming after al-
most two years the regulator first spoke about the plan far, none have obtained a tier 1 license, which is the low-
to license MVNOs. A Mobile Virtual Network Operator est category. As per the records in the NCC’s database,
(MVNO) is a telecommunications service provider that 7 companies have been licensed in the tier 2 catego-
does not own its own physical network infrastructure ry. These companies are Routelink Integrated Systems
but instead leases network services from an existing Ltd, Hazon Technologies Limited, Asel Telecom Nigeria
mobile network operator (MNO). MVNOs typically enter Limited, Briclinks Africa Plc, Pisi Mobile Services Lim-
into agreements with MNOs to access their network in- ited, Univasa Nigeria Limited, and Imose Technologies
frastructure, including voice, data, and messaging ser- Limited. In the tier 3 category, there are also 7 licensed
vices. MVNOs operate as independent entities and can companies. They are Amics Technologies Limited, Ze-
offer their own branded mobile services to customers. gtel Limited, Telewyz Limited, Siu Telecommunications
They have the flexibility to define their pricing, service Network, Abrindex Nigeria Limited, Metropolitan Con-
plans, and value-added features. MVNOs cater to spe- sortium Nigeria Ltd, and IPNX Nigeria Limited. The tier 4
cific market segments or niche markets, targeting dif- operators consist of Imbil Telecoms Solutions Nig. Ltd,
ferent customer needs and preferences. By leveraging Environmental Expressions Limited, and DMK Telecom-
the infrastructure of established MNOs, MVNOs can munication Nig. Ltd. Lastly, the tier 5 category includes
enter the mobile market without the substantial invest- 8 licensed companies: Systegra Technologies Limited,
ment required to build and maintain their own network Choffan Communications Limited, Mab Consultant and
infrastructure. This allows MVNOs to focus on deliver- Associates Ltd, H & Y Business Global Limited, Taima
ing unique services, customer experience, and competi- Technologies Ltd, Global Communication Extension
tive pricing. These 25 new MVNOs will provide the same Services Ltd, USKS Ventures International Ltd, and Pa-
telecom services like the incumbents, MTN, Airtel, Glo ribas Communication Limited. NCC has raked in about
and 9Mobile and NCC expects that they would help to N5.9 billion as licensing fees from the issuance of the
drive the government’s efforts to extend telecom ser- MNVO license to the 25 companies.
vices to more rural, under-served, and unserved com- (Jun 8, 2023) www.innovation-village.com

The National Communications Authority (Nasjonal a strong market position, which in turn will mean being
kommunikasjonsmyndighet, Nkom) has begun consult- subject to wholesale access obligations.
ing on its market analysis of the country’s fixed broad- (Jun 16, 2023) www.commsupdate.com
band sector, and pointed to what it terms are ‘clear
Norway challenges with low competition and little opportunity A total of 2.4 million households now have access to
for customers to choose their own broadband provider’.
broadband at downlink speeds of 100Mbps, Norway’s
Specifically, Nkom highlighted the impact of fixed line National Communications Authority (Nasjonal kom-
incumbent “Telenor Norge’s recent copper network clo- munikasjonsmyndighet, Nkom) has reported. With the
sure and how that has led to differences in the competi- watchdog’s previous coverage survey, “published in
tive situation in different parts of the country. According September 2022having stated that 93.6% of the popu-
to the regulator, as a result of the copper shutdown it lation had access to 100Mbps downlink speeds, the lat-
has moved from viewing Norway as a single national est study puts coverage at around 96%. However, Nkom
market, to one comprising 22 regional markets. In its highlighted that despite the continued increase in ac-
analysis Nkom found that in twelve of the markets there cess to faster speeds, a number of private broadband
was an operator in the region with a strong market posi- subscriptions remain on lower-speed services, with
tion. Nine companies were named as having a compet- only 77% of around 2.3 million private broadband sub-
itive advantage across those twelve areas, those being: scriptions being on a tariff offering downlink speeds of
Telenor Norge (in the coastal municipalities in Vestfold 100Mbps or higher, at the time of the study, with regards
and Telemark, the coast from Kragero to Kristiansand, to that level of take-up, Nkom director Pal Wien Espen
the Bergen area, the coast of Trondelag); Viken Fiber was cited as saying: ‘We know that households have
(Drammen); Eidsiva Bredband (Inland); Altifiber (Indre different compositions and different needs. In addition,
Agder and Dalane); Lyse Fiber (Stavanger); Haugaland we see that more and more people are buying mobile
Kraft Fiber (Sunnhordland and Haugalandet); Enivest subscriptions with larger data quotas, so more people
(Sunnfjord and Nordfjord); NTE Telekom (northern part are probably using this as an alternative to a fixed inter-
of Trondelag); and Signal Bredband (southern and cen- net connection. But this is clearly an area we need more
tral part of Nordland). These providers have been noti- knowledge about.’ (May 26, 2023) www.telecomtalk.info
fied that they are to be designated as providers holding
128 MAY-JUNE 2023