The Nigerian Communications Commission has issued new regulatory guidelines on National Roaming services aimed at encouraging National Roaming between Roaming Providers and Roaming Seekers in the country.
The commission stated that the exercise is in line with the powers conferred upon it by Section 70 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
It further explained that the Guidelines are intended to give effect to the provisions of licences which permit the licensees to enter into agreements for the purpose of providing National Roaming Services in Nigeria, subject to the prior approval of the Commission.
The commission further noted that the duration of any national roaming agreement must not exceed three years from the date of execution.
According to NCC, “The Commission reserves the right to permit parties to renew the National Roaming Agreement for another 3 years.
“Any further extension must be subjected to the approval of the Commission,” the statement stated.
These guidelines are intended to give effect to the provisions of licences which permit the licensees to enter into agreements for the purpose of providing National Roaming services in Nigeria, subject to the prior approval of the Commission.
The guidelines according to the commission, shall apply to only the holders of licenses validly issued by the Commission which contain condition that makes the holder eligible to enter into a national roaming service agreement.
On the scopes of the guidelines, the commission said that the national roaming services shall be provided within the geographical boundaries of Nigeria.
In addition, the regulatory body advised potential providers to fully read the guideline in conjunction with the Act, “the Collocation Guidelines, Interconnection Regulations, Quality of Service Regulations, Competition Practices Regulations, other subsidiary legislations that may be issued by the Commission from time to time, and relevant Licence Conditions.“
On the legal provisions, it insisted that the procedure for national roaming entails that dully authorized service providers shall request and negotiate NRA with each other on bi-lateral and non-discriminatory terms.
The statement further stated that “A Roaming Seeker requesting for National Roaming services shall forward a duly completed Roaming Request Form A contained under Schedule 1 of the guidelines to the Roaming Provider”.
Additionally, NCC assured: “(3) A Roaming Provider shall notify the Roaming Seeker of its approval or rejection of the Roaming Request in line with the procedure stated under Sub-paragraph (5) and (6) below.” While subsection (4) required that where the “Roaming Seeker receives no response from the Roaming Provider within 15 days of its request, the Roaming Seeker shall immediately notify the Commission in writing, and the Commission shall take necessary steps to ensure the Roaming Provider responds to the Roaming Request.”
Considerations for National Roaming Agreements
– The charges, terms and conditions for National Roaming services shall be through bilateral negotiations and in line with the provisions of these Guidelines.
-National Roaming Agreements shall take into consideration legal aspects of authentication, authorisation and billing of the Visiting or Roaming Subscriber so as Page | 7 not to compromise minimal safety standards such as location update procedures, financial security or warranty procedures in line with GSMA reference documents on
roaming services as applicable to National Roaming.
– In addition to these Guidelines, the following existing Regulations and Guidelines shall be taken into consideration in drafting National
– Multiple National Roaming Agreements can be signed with different operators in the same or different clusters.
– Notwithstanding the above, the allowable number of Roaming partners on a Visited Network shall be determined by capacity and clusters.
– National Roaming services shall be provided under non-discriminatory terms, conditions and of a quality no less favourable than that provided by the Roaming Provider for its services or for services by its subsidiaries and other affiliates.
– Meeting the minimum network roll-out obligation as spelt out in a Service Provider’s Licence Condition is a pre-condition for entering into a National Roaming Agreement.
