The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called on African telecommunications regulators to ground their regulatory decisions in verified data and evidence aimed at addressing persistent sector challenges.

Speaking at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) in Abuja, Dr. Aminu Maida, NCC's Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, emphasized that regulation plays a pivotal role in driving economic growth. He stressed that effective regulation must be independently guided and informed by robust market intelligence.

Communications regulation, Maida noted, has become increasingly central to economic development, the digital economy, and national progress across the African continent. The mobile industry alone is estimated by the GSMA to contribute around 8% of Sub-Saharan Africa's GDP, underscoring the economic stakes of effective regulation. Africa's 54 countries face significant shared hurdles, including the digital divide, coverage gaps, low smartphone adoption, digital literacy shortfalls, and satellite service issues. While each nation confronts country-specific problems, Maida observed that most grapple with common challenges.

He pointed to infrastructure development, cybersecurity, affordability, satellite services, network resilience, and the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence technologies as issues pertinent to nearly all African nations.

To tackle these shared challenges, Maida urged regulators to exchange experiences and lessons that could help institutions navigate complex policy and regulatory questions. He acknowledged that a deliberate knowledge-sharing approach would benefit regulatory authorities across the continent.

"Very often, the challenge one regulator is trying to solve has already been encountered, in one form or another, by a colleague elsewhere on the continent," he said.

Maida described the roundtable's theme — "Building Africa's Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation" — as timely and relevant to the future of communications regulation across Africa.

"It gives us an opportunity to consider how better use of data, evidence and market intelligence can strengthen regulatory decisions, and how African regulators can learn more systematically from one another," he added.

Rimini Makama, NCC's Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management, who chaired the roundtable, stressed that emerging developments such as AI, broadband expansion, satellite-to-phone services, cloud computing, and digital public infrastructure require regulators to move beyond traditional regulatory methods.

The Heads of Regulators Roundtable forms part of ongoing efforts by African communications regulators to promote collaboration and evidence-based regulation in addressing the continent's most pressing issues in the voice and internet ecosystem.

The NCC's call comes at a critical juncture for the African telecoms industry. Despite a recent surge in mobile phone adoption, a significant proportion of Africans still lack access to a device, particularly among low-income populations and women.

According to recent data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the GSMA, between 60% and 64% of Africa's population remains offline or does not actively use mobile internet, largely due to device costs, service affordability barriers, and gaps in digital literacy.

Rather than each regulator working in isolation, the NCC is advocating that regulators across Africa share insights to enable more informed decision-making. For example, if Nigeria finds that a particular spectrum licensing model accelerates 5G rollout, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa could learn from that experience rather than experimenting independently. Nigeria itself has been among Africa's early 5G adopters, having auctioned 3.5 GHz spectrum in December 2021 and seen commercial launches by operators including MTN Nigeria and Airtel.

Regulators are expected to adapt to recent innovations rather than relying on outdated rules, Maida emphasized.