The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Garba Danbatta, has said the Federal Government had made a big mistake in neglecting Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) companies in Nigeria.
Danbatta said this at a media event in Lagos, when asked why other countries have alternative to (Global System for Mobile communication) GSM phones and Nigerian government decided to sell its last surviving CDMA company to a GSM network.
“I agree that we have neglected fixed telephoning in this country at a cost. The congestion with wireless is attributed to the fact that we have decided to let go of services offered by CDMA technology. I think it was a mistake because many countries, at the advent of digital technology still sustained services provided by analog technology,” Danbatta said.
According to him, “In many countries, the two technologies still co-exist. You don’t kick out a technology just like that without planning for an alternative. As I said, there is recognition of what CDMA technology can offer as an alternative to wireless technology,” he said.
A few weeks ago, the management of mobile telecommunications company, MTN, confirmed the completion of the acquisition of Visafone, the last surviving CDMA Company in Nigeria, leaving Nigerians with no alternative to GSM.
Stakeholders have since expressed worry about the lack of alternative competition and fact that the four major GSM telecom operators have dominated the Nigerian mobile market and are therefore prone to monopoly of the telecom industry. Some are of the view that this is the reason why some of the operators are quick to flout orders from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and even the issuance of a huge fine carries very little or no weight as deadlines have been missed and re-fixed time and time again.
The NCC boss continued by explaining reasons for sale, saying that the commission is open for discussions concerning the revival of CDMAs in Nigeria.
“However, the sale of Visafone was approved by the commission so that MTN, who acquired it, can be able to roll out services. Not only first generation evolution services that we have today, but to provide the CDMA technology that Visafone is known for and we will continue to encourage other operators who may want to revive this dying technology,” he said.
“We are open to discuss ways for this revival because we feel that additional service providers that will come in to provide fixed services will be welcome because such services will lessen the autonomy on our telephone operations in this country. We will continue to encourage the revival of CDMA,” he added.
Speaking on the acquisition of his company by MTN, Jim Ovia, founder of Visafone Communications Limited, said that Visafone remains open for business and will be leveraged to expand MTN’s roll out of its LTE broadband services.
According to Ovia, the acquisition of Visafone by MTN is a healthy development that will further accelerate the growth of ICT in Nigeria.
Jim Ovia sees no harm in the lack of an existing CDMA company in the country. He says that it is for the benefit of the country that a GSM operator capable of rolling out broadband services can leverage on the existing infrastructure of Visafone to do this.
“The advent of mobile telecommunication services into the country over a decade ago has impacted Nigeria positively and created a new industry powered by technology and innovation. Looking back, we have recorded progress and achievements that have positively impacted the growth of other sectors such as banking, e-commerce and entertainment. We recognise that the industry holds greater potential that can further catalyse Nigeria’s economic growth generally,” he said.
A CDMA is a digital cellular technology that uses spread spectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems such as GSM that use TDMA, CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user, instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum.
