24 October 2002 – According to a report by This Day, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has decided that Nigeria Telecommunications Ltd. must pay MTN and Econet Wireless over N1 billion to cover debts owed to the companies for interconnecting traffic from Nitel landlines to MTN and Econet.

The interconnection dispute between the GSM operators moved to a new stage as the Minister of Communications, Dr. Haliru Bello ordered Nitel to abide by the NCC ruling. At a meeting of the GSM operators yesterday, Bello said the government does not intend to interfere with the NCC on matters of industry regulation. He stressed the importance of having all operators obey NCC directives.

In his response, Nitel's Chief Executive, Mr. Ganiyi Adegbuji said Nitel is working on paying 80 percent of the debt before the end of the week, but that the remaining 20 percent should be eliminated because of discrepancies in traffic figures. The 80 percent is believed to be over N1 billion.

Nitel had contacted the minister with concerns that MTN and Econet were not complying with the terms of an agreement reached at a meeting with the NCC last week. Nitel said that despite opening its network, the other operators violated the agreement by not allowing their subscribers to reach NITEL subscribers.

The letter also noted that of the 131 trunks available to the operators in Kaduna and Abuja, the operators opened only four to allow Nitel subscribers into their networks. This enables only 120 callers instead of about 1000 to call from Nitel into their networks.

The minister warned MTN and Econet not to collude against Nitel. The operators ruled out collusion saying they have been competing for market share and that their tariffs are not similar.

MTN and Econet did accuse Nitel of refusing to separate interconnection negotiations over their fixed and mobile services. For MTN and Econet, negotiations with Nitel that combines fixed service and mobile service is considered unacceptable.

On the issue of interconnection rates between the parties, the minister stated that the companies should proceed immediately to negotiate with each other in good faith and that he expects an agreement to be reached by October 30.

24 October 2002 – According to a report by This Day, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has decided that Nigeria Telecommunications Ltd. must pay MTN and Econet Wireless over N1 billion to cover debts owed to the companies for interconnecting traffic from Nitel landlines to MTN and Econet.

The interconnection dispute between the GSM operators moved to a new stage as the Minister of Communications, Dr. Haliru Bello ordered Nitel to abide by the NCC ruling. At a meeting of the GSM operators yesterday, Bello said the government does not intend to interfere with the NCC on matters of industry regulation. He stressed the importance of having all operators obey NCC directives.

In his response, Nitel's Chief Executive, Mr. Ganiyi Adegbuji said Nitel is working on paying 80 percent of the debt before the end of the week, but that the remaining 20 percent should be eliminated because of discrepancies in traffic figures. The 80 percent is believed to be over N1 billion.

Nitel had contacted the minister with concerns that MTN and Econet were not complying with the terms of an agreement reached at a meeting with the NCC last week. Nitel said that despite opening its network, the other operators violated the agreement by not allowing their subscribers to reach NITEL subscribers.

The letter also noted that of the 131 trunks available to the operators in Kaduna and Abuja, the operators opened only four to allow Nitel subscribers into their networks. This enables only 120 callers instead of about 1000 to call from Nitel into their networks.

The minister warned MTN and Econet not to collude against Nitel. The operators ruled out collusion saying they have been competing for market share and that their tariffs are not similar.

MTN and Econet did accuse Nitel of refusing to separate interconnection negotiations over their fixed and mobile services. For MTN and Econet, negotiations with Nitel that combines fixed service and mobile service is considered unacceptable.

On the issue of interconnection rates between the parties, the minister stated that the companies should proceed immediately to negotiate with each other in good faith and that he expects an agreement to be reached by October 30.