Emeka Offor’s Open Skys joins Mafab to raise unified licensing ecosystem

Abuja-based Open Skys Services Limited owned by Nigerian businessman, Sir Emeka Offor, has joined 5G operator Mafab Communications Limited to raise the unified licensing ecosystem. The Unified Access Service Licence (UASL), which was introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) following the expiration of market exclusivity granted the mobile pioneers, removes the segmentation of fixed and mobile operators to allow licensees to offer voice, data, and other multimedia services. Technology Times review of NCC’s latest market updates shows that Open Skys has been issued the 10-year licence increasing the unified service licensees to 11 companies including incumbent and new entrant players in the telecoms industry. TT Lists | Open Skys Joins Unified Access Service League [caption id="attachment_151659" align="aligncenter" width="1195"] List of companies issued unified access service licences by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).[/caption] The competitive market setup resulted in greater consumer choice allowing consumers to select the most appropriate services. In addition, consumers have benefited from steadily declining prices. e.g. mobile starter pack prices decrease from N20,000 in 2001 to N1 in 2004 for basic prepaid services or overall fixed voice prices fell by an average 24% in between 2003 and 2004.” The UASL, which is also required to operate 5G service in Nigeria, is held by winners of the 5G licensing rounds that include Mafab Communications Limited, and two of the biggest mobile network operators in the country, MTN Nigeria, owned by South Africa’s MTN Group, and Airtel Nigeria, owned by India’s Bharti Airtel. Other UASL licensees include Intercellular Nig Plc, Gamjitel Ltd, Smile Communications Nigeria Limited, Megatech Engineering Ltd, NATCOM Development Investment Ltd, Global Independent Connect Limited, and MPS Technologies Limited. Skys Services Limited, the latest UASL licensee is owned by Sir Offor, Executive Vice Chairman of Chrome Group with interests across the oil and gas, broadcasting, and technology industry, according to the group. In February 2005, NCC said that due to the convergence in the telecoms industry, and the expiration of the exclusivity period granted to mobile operators, the telecoms regulator unveiled plans to introduce a unified licensing regime in Nigeria. The market shall be opened up, NCC says at the time, “by adopting a unified licensing regime which shall allow existing fixed wireless and mobile licensees to provide both services subject to geographical/regional limitations contained in their licence. “For the post-exclusivity period, all wireless licences shall not be segmented in terms of mobile and fixed service categories. Once a spectrum is allocated, licensees shall be free to offer voice, data or multimedia services as they deem fit. All active wireless licences issued prior to the expiration of the exclusivity period shall be amended accordingly.” For NCC, the introduction of unified or converged licensing was to encourage the growth of new applications and services; simplify existing licensing procedures to ease market entry and operations; engender regulatory flexibility to address market and technological developments; promote efficient utilisation of network resources, “so that individual networks may be used to provide a broad range of ICT services.” It also sought to encourage “a full range of operators, including large-scale and micro-entrepreneurs.” The current trend of increasing convergence of telecommunication services and recent regulatory developments,” NCC said, “point to a progression toward greater use of general authorizations and class licensing in regulating market entry in the industry. As regulatory frameworks become more established and telecommunication markets become more mature, licensing authorities have become more willing to reduce regulatory intervention at the point of market entry. Instead, greater reliance is placed on general conditions, ex post regulatory remedies and industry self‐regulation in the areas previously covered by individual licence conditions.” Ahead of the introduction of unified licensing in Nigeria, NCC says that market dynamics of that era has seen stable growth figures in the telecom industry leading to a rapid increase in teledensity from 0.5% in 2000 to over 7.5% in December 2004. Mobile cellular operators also recorded strong performance, NCC said as “subscriber base rose from 450,000 in December 2001 to about 19 million in December 2005.” According to the telecoms regulator, “mobile cellular telephony became an integral part of the everyday life for many Nigerians for the first time.” Private telecom operators (PTO) have been the main contributors to fixed line growth figures offering broad service packages including voice, fax, and internet. “Most PTOs,” according to the regulator, “also offer limited mobility, thus providing a convergent telecommunication platform. The competitive market setup resulted in greater consumer choice allowing consumers to select the most appropriate services. In addition, consumers have benefited from steadily declining prices. e.g. mobile starter pack prices decrease from N20,000 in 2001 to N1 in 2004 for basic prepaid services or overall fixed voice prices fell by an average 24% in between 2003 and 2004.”

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