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ABUJA, NIGERIA — The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged African telecommunications regulators to forge stronger partnerships and adopt a more coordinated, data-driven approach to communications regulation in order to build a smarter, more resilient digital ecosystem across the continent.
The call was made by the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, during the Heads of Regulators Roundtable held as part of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) in Abuja.
Addressing participants at the high-level gathering, Dr. Maida underscored the growing importance of communications regulation in advancing Africa’s economic development, digital transformation and national competitiveness.
He noted that despite operating under different legal and market environments, regulators across Africa continue to confront similar challenges, including broadband infrastructure development, cybersecurity threats, network resilience, affordability of digital services, satellite communications and the emergence of artificial intelligence.
According to him, greater collaboration among regulators will enable countries to learn from one another’s experiences and adopt proven regulatory approaches more efficiently.
“Very often, the challenge one regulator is trying to solve has already been encountered, in one form or another, by a colleague elsewhere on the continent,” Dr. Maida said.
He described the conference theme, “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation,” as highly relevant to the continent’s digital future.
“It gives us an opportunity to consider how better use of data, evidence and market intelligence can strengthen regulatory decisions, and how African regulators can learn more systematically from one another,” he stated.
Dr. Maida emphasised that institutionalising knowledge-sharing among African regulators would improve policy formulation, strengthen regulatory responses and support sustainable growth of the communications sector across the continent.
Also speaking at the roundtable, the NCC’s Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management, Rimini Makama, said Africa’s communications landscape is becoming increasingly sophisticated due to rapid technological advancements.
She identified broadband expansion, satellite connectivity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure as major developments that are reshaping the regulatory environment and requiring more innovative oversight mechanisms.
Makama observed that although regulators now have access to vast amounts of technical, consumer and market data, the real task lies in transforming that information into meaningful intelligence capable of supporting informed regulatory decisions.
She stressed that evidence-based regulation would enable authorities to respond more effectively to emerging industry trends while promoting innovation, protecting consumers and encouraging investment.
The Heads of Regulators Roundtable was convened as part of wider efforts by African communications regulators to deepen regional cooperation, strengthen evidence-based policymaking and build a more innovative, resilient and consumer-centred telecommunications ecosystem capable of supporting the continent’s digital aspirations.
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