The ahead of the World Radio-communication Conference holding later in the year, the Nigerian Government, yesterday, urged the African Telecommunications Union, ATU to come out with a voice and a strong position on the issues of spectrum utilization.Johnson Omobola the Minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Johnson Omobola, made the call at African preparatory meeting, APM holding in Abuja, Nigeria.
Says according to the minister, Africa has one of the fastest growing telecommunications sectors in the world, bringing more people on the internet, voice and other online platforms. She argued that for this, the ATU, should have a common position at the global event.
World Radio-communication Conference is the apex body of ITU, that reviews and upgrade the radio regulations every four years based on the reports carried out every four years.
It also considers issues regarding spectrum management. According to Johnson, “Africa has one of the fastest growing telecommunications in the world, we are bringing more people on the internet, voice and many other platforms so the ATU needs to come out with a common position of how we use the spectrum as far as Africa is concerned.
She said: “Africa has become a very important part of International Telecommunications Union, ITU and so, should have a common voice and a strong position on the issues that would be discussed at the preparatory meeting, particularly on how spectrum should be utilized and maximized,” .
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Dr. Juwah Eugene, however, promised that all the outstanding issues concerning the use of spectrum in Africa would be trashed at the Abuja meeting and the outcome tabled on the agenda for the global meeting coming by the end of the year.
The expectation is that all the outstanding issues concerning the use of spectrum will be discussed, Africa will put them on the agenda for the global meeting coming by the end of the year,
This is a preparatory meeting towards the WRC-15 , to decide on the issues that are important to Africa and put them on agenda for the meeting and ensure that the whole of Africa have a common position on issues such as harmonizing spectrum, spectrum slots so that cross-border interference and other technical issues will be limited.
“He added that harmonization was key in handling all spectrum matters, describing the meeting as opportunity for Africa to stand united on a matter that is of common interest to the region”.
He said, “avenues like this should be used to further the interest and development of the African region through thorough and objective look at all the issues that would be discussed at the meeting.”
He added that “for every harmonized spectrum utilized efficiently, there is a corresponding positive impact on every nation’s economy both on the cost of manufacture, distribution and use of equipment and devices utilising such spectrums” .
The ATU meeting is being hosted by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology in conjunction with the Nigerian Communications Commission on behalf of the federal government.