The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for stronger collaboration among African telecommunications regulators to build a robust network intelligence ecosystem that supports evidence-based regulatory decisions across the continent.
The Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, made the call while declaring open the Heads of Regulators Roundtable held on the sidelines of the ongoing African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference Preparatory Meeting in Abuja.
Maida said that although African countries operated under different legal frameworks, market sizes and national priorities, regulators across the continent faced similar challenges requiring coordinated solutions.
He said discussions among regulators often extended beyond routine engagements to issues such as investment, infrastructure resilience, satellite communications, cybersecurity, affordability, artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies.
According to him, these shared realities make regular engagements among regulators essential to exchanging practical experiences and strengthening regulatory institutions.
“Very often, the challenge that one regulator is trying to solve has already been encountered in one form or another by a colleague elsewhere on the continent.
“The question is how we make that exchange of experience more deliberate, more systematic and more useful to our institutions,” he said.
Maida said the roundtable, themed “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation,” provided an opportunity for regulators to explore how data, market intelligence and evidence could improve regulatory decisions.
He urged participants to openly discuss successful initiatives, lessons from failed approaches and areas where collaboration could help African regulators avoid duplicating efforts.
The NCC boss said Nigeria would share its regulatory experience while encouraging participants to contribute practical solutions capable of strengthening telecommunications regulation across Africa.
In her remarks, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM), NCC, Ms Rimini Makama, said Africa’s digital communications landscape had become increasingly complex with the rapid expansion of broadband, satellite services, AI, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure.
Makama said traditional regulatory approaches were no longer sufficient to address the emerging realities of the sector.
She said that while regulators now possessed unprecedented volumes of technical, market and consumer data, the major challenge was transforming such information into effective regulatory decisions.
“The challenge is not collecting data. The challenge is turning it into better decisions.
“As our digital markets become increasingly interconnected, we share common responsibilities in protecting consumers, promoting competition, attracting investment and ensuring resilient communications networks,” she said.
Makama said the roundtable would enable regulators to exchange practical experiences, identify common challenges and deepen collaboration among ATU member states.
She said the NCC would present its regulatory intelligence ecosystem, which integrates quality of service and quality of experience data, consumer complaints, compliance analytics and market intelligence into a unified decision-making platform.
According to her, the system has supported measurable regulatory outcomes by providing reliable evidence for policy and operational decisions.
Makama encouraged participants to share experiences on ensuring data integrity, overcoming barriers to regulatory data sharing and leveraging advanced technologies to improve regulatory effectiveness.
She also urged regulators to discuss methods for measuring actual consumer experience beyond conventional quality-of-service indicators.
