AI, cloud, satellite services in Africa require smarter telecom regulation — NCC

By Progress Godfrey

ABUJA – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing and satellite services across Africa demands smarter, evidence-based telecom regulation to keep pace with the continent’s evolving digital ecosystem.

The call was made at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable hosted by the NCC on the sidelines of the ongoing African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking at the opening of the session, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said despite operating under different legal frameworks and market conditions, African regulators are grappling with common issues including infrastructure resilience, investment, cybersecurity, affordability, satellite services and AI.

“We may regulate markets of different sizes and operate under different legal frameworks, but the realities of our work are often remarkably similar,” Maida said.

He noted that conversations among regulators quickly move beyond pleasantries to discussions on emerging technologies and the regulatory challenges they present, adding that gatherings such as the Heads of Regulators Roundtable provide structured opportunities for regulators to exchange experiences and practical solutions.

“Very often, the challenge one regulator is trying to solve has already been encountered by a colleague elsewhere on the continent. The question is how we make that exchange of experience more deliberate, more systematic and more useful to our institutions,” he said.

NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Rimini Makama, said regulators across Africa must move beyond simply collecting data to effectively using it to make smarter, more transparent and consumer-focused decisions.

According to Makama, technological developments such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, satellite services and digital public infrastructure have made traditional regulatory approaches inadequate.

“Our markets are no longer simple. Broadband is expanding, satellite services are arriving, AI, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure are reshaping our sector. The old regulatory approaches were built for a simpler time. They’re no longer enough,” Makama said.

She noted that while regulators now possess unprecedented volumes of technical, market and consumer data, the real challenge is converting that information into better policy and regulatory outcomes through the exchange of practical experiences, identification of common challenges and stronger collaboration among African regulators.

She disclosed that the NCC would present its regulatory intelligence ecosystem, which integrates quality of service and quality of experience data, consumer complaints, compliance monitoring, analytics and market intelligence to support evidence-based decision-making. She urged regulators to strengthen data verification, improve data sharing, leverage advanced analytics and better measure consumer experience beyond conventional Quality of Service (QoS) indicators.

Also speaking, Director-General of the Regional African Satellite Communications Organisation, Timothy Ashong, stressed the need for African countries to strengthen both terrestrial and satellite connectivity to improve digital access across the continent.

Ashong commended Nigeria for deploying technologies that enable regulators, operators and consumers to monitor network disruptions in real time, describing the approach as a model other African countries should emulate.

“When operators experience fibre cuts, the regulator and even citizens can see it in real time. It makes responses faster and improves transparency. This is something every African country needs to emulate,” he said.

He expressed concern over poor inter-African network connectivity, noting that travellers across the continent still experience unreliable voice and internet services. According to him, no single technology can solve Africa’s connectivity challenges.

“We should not rely on only one connectivity solution. We need significant investment in both terrestrial broadband infrastructure and satellite communications. Satellite provides seamless connectivity across the continent, especially in difficult-to-reach border communities,” Ashong said.