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.
Speaking at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26) in Abuja, Dr. Maida said communications regulation has become increasingly central to economic growth, digital transformation, and national development across Africa.
He 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.
The NCC Chief Executive 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.
He noted that “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.”
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
