NCC moves to streamline tax as inactive phone numbers rise to 76mn in July

In response to demands to urgently address the issue of multiple taxation confronting stakeholders in the telecoms industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday that an Industry Working Group (IWG) on multiple taxation and regulations had been established.

The announcement comes on the heels of the Monthly Subscriber Data report released by the Commission, which showed that the number of registered telephone lines not in use have risen from 67,331,498 in June to 76,164,149 in July. The increase means there were 8,832,651 unused numbers during the period.

Furthermore, the report stated that of the 226,426,215 lines that were connected, only 150,262,066 were active.

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) lines accounted for 72,732,130 of the 76,164,149 inactive numbers, while the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA mobile) operators had a share of 3,240.313 and the Fixed Wired Wireless networks rounded off with 184.819 unused lines.

Addressing multiple taxation, the NCC said in a statement, was key to easier and quick deployment of telecoms infrastructure “required for good quality service in the country.”

The decision to establish the working group on taxation was reached after a meeting the NCC held recently.

“A key highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the proposed Alternative Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry presented by Emerging Markets Telecommunication Service (EMTS),” the NCC statement read.

NCC also stated that an agreement was reached by the end of the meeting that all other operators should review the proposal and forward their comments to the Commission. It said the Commission had also set up a regulatory intervention team that would at very short notice, intervene and engage other government agencies.

 

The team has the mandate to resolve urgent cases and threats to critical telecoms infrastructure across the country.

The NCC, according to the statement, was constantly monitoring the porting process with a view to ensuring strict adherence to the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) Regulation 2014, in addition to the business rules. MNP is a service that allows a cell phone or Smartphone customer to change telecom carrier and keep the same phone number.

The commission explained that the monitoring was necessary in order to achieve its goal of sustaining the integrity of the MNP scheme in the country.

“In quarter 2, 2016, this exercise focused attention on reviewing all rejected port requests by the donor within the period to ensure that these rejections were made for valid reasons consistent with the MNP business rules,” the NCC statement read.