Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has introduced the sum ₦250,000 administrative fee to be paid by new telecom operators and innovators for Interim Service Authorisation (ISA).
The ₦250,000 ISA administrative fee was part of the Commission’s initiatives to demonstrate feasibility, assess risks, and validate their service ideas before reaching the market.
The ISA administrative fee, which was to be paid to test ideas before market roll out, was aimed at supporting new innovators, including startups or large companies.
According to the NCC, new applicants for the ISA would be required to pay the ₦250,000 as an administrative fee together with their applications for the General Authorisation Framework (GAF).
It was said to be part of regulatory initiatives to support new telecom innovators, including tech-driven startups or large companies, with a safe ecosystem to demonstrate feasibility, assess risks, and validate ideas before hitting the market.
NCC disclosed that the directive was part of regulatory initiatives to support new telecoms innovators, including tech-driven startups or large companies, with a safe ecosystem to demonstrate feasibility, assess risks, and validate ideas before hitting the market.
The Commission noted that the supervisory intervention, contained in its General Authorisation Framework document, would allow new industry operators to test the market before product or service launch.
GAF is an update of the NCC licensing process that has introduced more flexibility to its regulatory process in Nigeria.
The measure will also enable NCC to determine whether such fresh entrants are capable of providing quality service for consumers’ Quality of Service (QoE).
The Commission had earlier published a new licensing framework to foster innovation and expand opportunities for startups and technology-driven enterprises within the Nigerian telecoms ecosystem.
According to the industry regulator, the new framework affords new operators the opportunity to test the West African country’s vast telecom market before launching their products or services.
The document further indicated that new telecom operators were required to pay the applicable fees for spectrum and numbering.
As regards the inherent benefits of the new-fangled initiative for the NCC and entire telecom sector, the regulatory framework aimed to make it easier for new and innovative telecom operators to launch out.
Under the rules, operators were allowed to test their ideas in a controlled environment (sandbox) without needing a full licence, assisting them to test-run their ideas cum innovations before hitting the telecoms market.
The new General Authorisation Framework has some key regulatory instruments; the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) test novel solutions in real-world conditions and a Regulatory Sandbox to allow controlled testing of ideas like Open RAN and spectrum sharing.
The framework equally offers an ISA for services that fall outside current licensing categories.
Under the NCC supervision, new telecom operators will be provided with facilities to test their operations in a live and controlled market environment.
The testing occured in a real-world setting with a limited number of participating consumers, about 10,000, and confined to specific, pre-approved locations for this purpose.
The ISA will last up to nine months, an initial three months, and it is renewable once for a maximum total duration of six months.
Other scope of the framework required new telecom operators to provide monthly reports, under close NCC supervision during the testing phase.
The service must be genuinely new or unique, and the applicant must explain why current rules were restrictive and also show a solid plan to protect telecom consumers and the market.
While NCC may give temporary exemptions from some regulations, consumer protection and data privacy laws remained intact.
The Commission as well noted that ISA is only a platform to a full licence once a formal category has been created.
This meant that success under an ISA does not automatically lead to an operating licence, just as NCC emphasised that granting of a licence will be subject to its review.
