By Kester Omu
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has disclosed that it decided to align with the Central bank of Nigeria in order to safeguard the interest of investors, subscribers as well the employee of Etisalat (Now 9Mobile), which is involved in indebtedness to a consortium of 13 banks in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian telecom regulator, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta stated this yesterday in a statement signed by Tony Ojobo, Director of Public Affairs, when he received the Chief Executive of 9Mobile, Mr. Boye Olusanya, and Vice-President, (Regulatory Affairs) Mr Ibrahim Dikko in his office at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to Danbatta, the over $2B Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), by Mubadala of United Arab Emirates (UAE) was hanging, while 20million Subscribers and over 2000 workers would have been affected if the Commission had not intervened in the matter with a view to finding an amicable resolution.
“Resolving the issue was also partly to forestall any form of disincentive to the FDI because if the company had gone under, it would have created a social problem especially with the job of over 2,000 Nigerians on the line. Such a situation was capable of creating security challenges for Nigeria,” he said.
Danbatta further assured the 9mobile team of the Commission’s cooperation to grow its network.
Earlier, the Chief Executive of 9Mobile, Mr. Boye Olusanya, thanked the EVC and the NCC Management for its cooperation that led to a seamless change and asked for concessions, especially in the area of spectrum assignment, revisit of data floor price, review of interconnection rates to asymmetric platform, concessional foreign exchange access, national roaming and others in order for 9Mobile to shore up its revenue and meet its financial obligations accordingly.