The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has concluded plans to ensure the implementation of nationwide roaming agreement among Nigerian mobile telecommunications networks. As such, consultations are ongoing over appropriate legal and regulatory framework with relevant stakeholders in the industry.
When the national roaming regime is finally enthroned, a subscriber of one network without signal will automatically be handed over to another network which has signal in any state, town or village.
The implication is that, so long as a subscriber has a mobile phone, he will always get network anywhere he find himself.
The telecom regulator has come out with a consultation paper on the national mobile roaming which will guide the stakeholders to make contributions towards the final document. National Mobile Roaming is a feature in several communication licences but it has not yet been utilized in Nigeria.
In brief, a national mobile roaming is the ability of a cellular customer to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services, including data services, when travelling outside the coverage area of the home network, by using a visited network.
NCC believes a national roaming agreement effectively multiplies a carrier’s ability to cover those areas where they do not have the presence of their own network, without actually having to deploy infrastructure. Prior agreements between operators enable the subscribers to roam into another network in case the home network is not available.
Prof Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NCC said even though it is technically possible to provide facility for domestic roaming, appropriate legal and regulatory framework has to be in place in order to encourage as well as assist the operators in realising roaming arrangements between them without any uncertainty.
“There is need to ensure that the policies, rules and regulations to be adopted regarding national roaming are formulated in detailed discussions with the operators as they are the main entities responsible for the successful implementation of the domestic roaming facility,” Danbatta said.
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