Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, made several rounds at the various sessions of the GSMA Mobile World Congress which ended in Barcelona Spain at the weekend with a call on major operators and vendors in Nigeria to improve on their current investments in the various networks so as to achieve better quality of service and price reduction.

Dr. Juwah who led the NCC team to several conference sessions and exhibition stands, including telecom regulatory trend sessions hosted by Ericsson for telecom regulators around the world, said during a visit to Barti Airtel Stand that the operators in Nigeria will need to invest more resources in their networks to improve on their quality of services being delivered to Nigerian at the moment, as well.

“Apart from Quality of Service, we need to see the operators reduce prices far more than they are doing at the moment. It appears the reductions are currently based on special packages. We don’t think that is enough. We want to see reductions that affect the subscribers generally, and we think it is about time that the operators do something so that we don’t have to introduce other measures that will be drastic to achieve that”, he said.

He advised Nigerian operators to take a cue on investments from other operators around the world that are present at the Mobile Congress with a view to deepening their investments in the country to achieve the twin desirable solutions of right quality  at the right price.

Dr. Juwah who also received the commendations of the Secretary General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, when he hosted the NCC team in his office at the Mobile Congress, said the Commission is ready to collaborate with the ITU in whatever way possible to ensure that the broadband vision which he announced recently, will be realized for the benefit of the Nigerian and its citizens.

He said the Commission will need the assistance of the ITU which has enormous recourses including human recourses.

Accompanied by the Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Peter Igoh and other directors of the Commission during the visit to the ITU scribe, Dr. Juwah intimated him about the plan which is something that has been considered by the Commission of being of critical importance.

“It is something that we want to deploy to change the face of ICT in Nigeria, and to reduce the digital divide between us and the developed world an also to revive our fixed line services”, he said. He informed Dr. Toure that while international consultants are looking at the approaches to this, the Commission is going to adopt the Open Access model which he said may become the African continent model because of its wide acceptance in other parts of the world.

Dr. Toure said that the plan is commendable and that the ITU, and its Bureau of telecom Development, BDT will come to provide the credibility that is desired to make the programme realizable in Nigeria.

“ I commend your initiatives. I have been following all that you have been doing. Since you took over, you recognized that a lot have been done.  And you are moving now, shifting the entire thing to a new paradigm. Let’s do it together. Your success is my success.

We will help you to do it because we really have a common interest here. Let’s do it and showcase it”, he said.

Dr. Toure said he is pleased that the new NCC helmsman has chosen to move broadband to the centre of f development. Broadband will therefore be a toll for all our development, a tool for e_education, a tool for e_health, a tool for e_irrigation, a tool for commerce, a tool for governance.

It is not an end on itself but a means to an end. Our challenge is how we move technology to achieve these objectives, for the continent. It demands an effective regulatory framework and I am sure that the Commission has the right approach”, he said.

The 2011 witnessed more than 60,000 visitors from 200 countries in attendance. The four_day conference and exhibition attracted executives from the world’s largest and most influential mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies and media and entertainment organisations, as well as government delegations. 51 per cent of this year’s Mobile World Congress attendees hold C_level positions, including more than 3,000 CEOs.