NCC, African regulators push stronger collaboration for smarter digital governance

Orisemeke Benjamin

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for deeper collaboration among African telecommunications and communications regulators to strengthen the use of data, evidence and market intelligence in driving more effective and responsive regulation across the continent.

According to a statement Wednesday by the Director, Public Affairs Department of the Commission, Mrs. Nnenna Ukoha, NCC Chief Executive, Dr. Maida Maina made the call while speaking at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) in Abuja.

The NCC Chief Executive said communications regulation has become increasingly central to economic growth, digital transformation, and national development across Africa. 

Dr. Maida observed that although regulators operate within different market environments and legal frameworks, they face many common challenges, including infrastructure development, cybersecurity, affordability, satellite services, resilience of networks, and the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence technologies.

He noted that exchanges among regulators often reveal shared experiences and lessons that can help institutions address complex policy and regulatory issues more effectively. He stressed the need to make such knowledge-sharing more deliberate, systematic, and beneficial to 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.

The EVC described the event’s theme, “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation,” as both timely and highly relevant to the future of communications regulation on the continent.

“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 explained.

While chairing the roundtable, Rimini Makama, NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, stated that, “developments such as broadband expansion, satellite services, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure are making communications ecosystems increasingly complex and requiring regulators to move beyond traditional regulatory approaches”.

She noted that regulators across Africa now have access to growing volumes of technical, market and consumer data, but stressed that the real challenge lies in translating this information into actionable intelligence capable of supporting better regulatory outcomes.

The Heads of Regulators Roundtable forms part of ongoing efforts by African communications regulators to promote evidence-based regulation, enhance regional cooperation and build more resilient, innovative and consumer-focused communications ecosystems across the continent.