By Kester Omu
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said it has no plan to revoke the license of any of the Interconnect Clearinghouse operators, who are presently being queried on the allegations of call masking and refilling.
The Executive Commission, Stakeholders Management at the NCC, Mr. Sunday Dare, disclosed this yesterday, while speaking to Journalists on the sideline of a stakeholders’ forum on cost based study for the determination of mobile voice termination rate in Lagos.
According to him, the worst that could happen to any of the Interconnect Clearinghouse operators found culpable is to sanction or suspend its license.
“The Commission is reviewing the responses of the Interconnect Clearinghouses on the allegations of call masking. Based on their responses, the Commission will determine which of the licenses would either be suspended or sanctioned. For us, revocation would be the last resort because we want to ensure that the telecom industry remains healthy. The Interconnect Clearinghouses are presently cooperating with us. We might see some suspensions and sanctions in the next one week, but I don’t see the revocation happening because we want to work with them, we don’t want to see any stress in the telecom industry,” Dare, who represented the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta at the forum stated.
The NCC’s yesterday statement is contrary to media reports earlier this week that the Commission has completed its investigation and has found the companies involved guilty of call masking.
The NCC, it does appear, is still investigating the matter and no evidence of wrongdoing has so far been presented to any of the Interconnect Clearinghouses. It is after the NCC has presented evidence to the companies that NCC will take a position on what will be done to those who are not able to clear their names.
The Nigerian Communications Commission is investigating the Interconnect Clearinghouses namely: Medallion Communications Limited, Interconnect Cleaning House Nigeria Limited, Niconnx Communication Limited, Breeze Micro Limited, Solid Interconnectivity and Exchange Telecommunications Limited, as a result of security implications of call masking to Nigeria as a country.
Meanwhile, a telecom expert, who spoke to ITPulse believes the investigation will not end with the Clearinghouses. The fixed line operators and finally the GSM operators will be investigated based on NCC timelines.