Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, has restated the need for taxation policies that will strike a balance between revenue generation and industry growth.
He said this while speaking at the “NCC Day” at the 18th Abuja International Trade Fair, organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry and held in Abuja on Thursday.
The NCC EVC/CEO, nevertheless noted that taxation was essential for the funding of government initiatives and policies.
The importance of taxation notwithstanding, he, however, noted that any taxation policy must strike a delicate balance between revenue generation and industry growth.
Danbatta said the theme of the 2023 edition of the trade fair, “Sustainable Financing and Taxation as Drivers of the New Economy”, was apt and timely.
“Our role as regulator is to advocate for fair taxation practices that do not stifle innovation or place undue burden on consumers.
“We acknowledge the intricacies of tax policies but emphasise the importance of creating an environment where telecommunications companies can thrive.
“To address these challenges, the Commission continuously engage both the federal and state government on the need to harmonise taxation in the telecommunications sector,” he said.
The NCC boss also made it known that the regulatory efforts of the Commission in deepening access to digital services will benefit Nigeria and make it competitive, comparable with other economies.
He added that the benefits are in the areas of job creation; contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth; emergence of new services and industries; workforce transformation; and business innovation.
“It is in our response to ensuring that Nigeria is competitive in all these areas that the Commission continuously puts a number of regulatory measures in place to ensure seamless access by Nigerians to telecommunications services.
“This is in order to deepen competitiveness of the Nigerian economy by making our businesses and industries digitally compliant.
“In Nigeria today, the number of active mobile subscriptions reached 220,715,961 million as at August 2023, while teledensity stood at 115.63 per cent at the same period.
“Also, the number of active internet subscribers was 159,034,717 Million with broadband penetration at 45.57 per cent as at August, 2023.
“In this new environment, the competitiveness of Nigerian businesses depends on their ability to leverage on new technologies by acquiring the necessary digital skills to do business on an international scale.
“This in turn benefits the economy financially,” Danbatta said, adding that the impact the steady growth of the telecoms sector on other sectors of the economy, over the years, has been remarkable.
The impacts of the telecoms sector as it affects other sectors, he said, are in terms of increased automation of processes and digital transformation in service delivery.
“This, however, would not have been possible without you, telecoms consumers who are using the services daily,” he added.
To sustain the growth of the telecoms sector, Danbatta stated that NCC has continue to create a conducive environment that stimulates deployment of robust telecoms/broadband infrastructure.
This, he said is to improve the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for telecoms consumers, be it individuals or corporates.
“This is because, as a country, we need robust telecoms infrastructure that will help our industries transit to becoming ICT-driven if we hope to be digitally competitive on the global stage.
“The Commission is working assiduously with various stakeholders including you, the consumers, to see how more businesses can embrace digital platforms for delivering their services to the consumer.
“As a regulator, we also ensure we constantly inform you, the consumers, on how to be protected to prevent cases of online fraud or avoid consumer falling victims of cybercrime antics while in their legitimate use of the internet,” he added.