The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said it is set to deploy a technology solution “Revenue Assurance Solution” (RAS), that will monitor revenue generated by its licensees in a bid to block leakages in their Annual Operating Levy (AOL)
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta disclosed this during an interactive session with stakeholders on the deployment of RAS in the Nigerian telecommunication industry.
On the importance of the deployment of the RAS to the nation’s economy, Danbatta said it will enable the commission determine how much their licensees generates annually and not wait for them to submit information to the commission before determining what they should pay as AOL. And that the financial burden of deployment will be on the operators.
“This project relieves the Commission of the initial financial burden that will be required for the deployment of the RAS project. It will also ensure that accurate revenues generated by the licensed network operators are tracked, analyzed and utilized for the benefit of the industry.
“Beyond revenue assurance, when deployed, the NCC RAS will bring a lot of solutions to the industry, including a more effective and enhanced monitoring and regulation of the licensed telecommunications operators by the Commission.” He explained.
The EVC further said that the Commission believes that the deployment of appropriate revenue assurance solutions would enhance monitoring and regulatory activities around AOL administration, and confer higher levels of integrity and fidelity on the AOL figures obtainable in the industry.
He explained that, “the Annual Operating Levy, AOL, is a very important tool in the regulation of the telecommunications industry. In Nigeria, the importance of AOL is well expressed in the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. AOL can be described as the tap root of an efficient and effective telecommunications regulatory environment.”
The mechanisms for collection and computation of AOL, are of interest and important to both the regulator, and the operating networks. Since the NCA 2003 came into force, various efforts have been made towards achieving a very effective AOL administration, pursuant to the powers of the Commission under Section 72 of the NCA Act 2003.
Professor Danbatta also said that, “the size of the Nigerian telecommunications industry, and revenue events engaged by the network operators, demand effective, accurate, and technology-driven revenue assurance solution which NCC-RAS represents.”
Danbatta assured that the system is designed to be connected to the licensed telecommunications operators’ systems and will have the capability of capturing and reporting in near real-time billing activities by the operators for the purposes, amongst others, of computing and assuring with minimal, if any, error margin, the accrued AOL payable to the NCC by the licensees.
The NCC Boss therefore advised other government agencies who might need data not to duplicate efforts but come to the NCC for it.
He said the Commission has a directive from the Federal Executive Council FEC to immediately deploy the technology.
Bilkisu Pai
