NCC Concludes Plan to Implement National Roaming Agreements Among Telcos

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has concluded plans to commence the implementation of national roaming agreements among Nigerian mobile telecommunications networks. Consultations are ongoing over appropriate legal and regulatory framework with relevant stakeholders in the industry.

National mobile roaming is the ability of a cellular customer to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services, including data services, when travelling outside the coverage area of the home network, by means of using a visited network.

When the national roaming regime is finally enthroned, a subscriber of one network without signal will automatically be handed over to another network which has signal in the state, town or village.

The implication is that, so long one has a mobile phone you will always get network anywhere one found him/herself.

The telecom regulator has come out with a consultation paper on national mobile roaming which will guide the stakeholders to make contributions towards the final document. National Mobile Roaming is a feature in several communication licences but it has not yet been utilized in Nigeria.