The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has exceeded its N36 billion revenue projections from spectrum licence fees for 2021, after earning over N150 billion within five months.
The figure represents over 400% increase in revenue budget performance for spectrum fees generated by the telecoms regulator between January 1 and May 31, 2021, “reflecting significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government”, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC Public Affairs Director says in a statement.
He explains that the N150 billion spectrum revenue achieved in the first half of 2021 was remitted to the Federal Government as stipulated by the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003 that mandates the telecoms regulator to remit all proceeds from spectrum resources into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of government.
“The figure represents over 400% increase in revenue budget performance for spectrum fees generated by the telecoms regulator between January 1 and May 31, 2021”
DR OKECHUKWU ADINDE, NCC PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR.
NCC projected N36 billion revenue from spectrum fee in its 2021 Budget that was considered and approved by both chambers of the National Assembly in December 2020 “but has remarkably surpassed this estimate”, according to the Adinde.
He says that “over the years, the NCC has put in place an effective regulatory regime which has significantly facilitated advancements in the nation’s telecoms industry, boosted Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improved the operations of licensees as well as boosted Federal Government’s revenue generation.”
Professor Umar Danbatta, NCC Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission says that the increased spectrum fee “was the result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector, which at the time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 Budget of the Commission was not clear due to the ravaging impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.”
The 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably, Danbatta says, underscoring the regulator’s commitment towards effective regulation to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.
“On October 28, 2020, Danbatta told members of the House Committee on Telecommunications while on an oversight function to the Commission that the NCC had generated and remitted N344.71 billion to the Federal Government’s CRF in the last five years.
“During the oversight visit, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Akeem Adeyemi, commended NCC’s Management for the feat and urged the Commission “to sustain its regime of effective regulation of the telecoms sector in a manner that would be more mutually beneficial to the industry stakeholders, including the consumers of the telecoms services, the operators, and the Nigerian government”, according to the statement.
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