NCC Fines CWG N25m For Violation

The Nigerian Communications Commission has fined CWG Plc, an integrated information and communications technology company, N25m for violating some provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act.

The telecom industry regulator said during its enforcement activities in the second quarter of the year, it discovered that DCC Satellite Limited transferred its licence to CWG contrary to Section 38 of the Nigeria Communications Act, 2003.

The NCC made this known in its latest enforcement report.

The Section 38 of the Act stated, “The grant of a licence shall be personal to the licensee and the licence shall not be operated by, assigned, sub-licensed or transferred to any other party unless the prior written approval of the commission has been granted.”

“An administrative fine in the sum of N25m only was imposed on CWG, based on the provisions of paragraph 14 (e) (f) (g) & (l) of the Enforcement Regulations, 2005, to serve as deterrence,” the NCC said in its enforcement report.

The commission also said it discovered that 24 companies had continuously failed to renew their licences after expiration and pre-enforcement notices were sent to them.

According to the commission, only five companies responded to the notice while enforcement action was approved against the 19 defaulting companies for operating without valid licences.

The NCC also said some telecom operators breached its guidelines on technical specification for the installation of masts and towers.

It said it had since directed MTN, IHS, ATC, Airtel and Globacom to regularise their infrastructure to avoid enforcement action against them.