By Aaron Ukodie

I.T Telecom Editor

(reporting from Abuja)

On Tuesday, it told GSM operators who have built gateways to enable them transport their own international traffic that they could now carry third party traffic.

The announcement thrilled the operators who began the first GSM Africa conference in Abuja.

Until now, GSM operators with own gateways were restricted from carrying third party international traffic, especially those of fixed wireless operators, who pass their traffic through the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Ernest Ndukwe, explained that the liberalisation is part of unified licensing which removes entry barriers and make telephony cheaper.

International call rates, which hover between N45 and N75 per minute, are likely to slide considerably; for the benefit of both users and operators who garner additional income.

Ndukwe said unified licensing aims at removing onerous and complicated licensing requirements that create artificial barriers to market entry and hinder competition.

The main concern of NCC is to make phone services affordable, improve operator’s freedom to innovate and expand networks as well as freedom to react fast to technology and market changes, and extend services to rural and under-served areas.

Global practices require that Nigeria adapt regulatory practices that will encourage innovation, Ndukwe stressed, as advances in technology are gradually dismantling the notion that different services be obtained from different operators.

He quoted global experts on the convergence of services, regulation and technology, and said converged licensing – driven by technology – offers solution to a number of issues confronting regulators.

Communications Minister, Cornelius Adebayo, in his keynote address at the conference, which ends on Thursday, said local manufacturing of handsets will begin before the year runs out, to cut costs.

“We here in Nigeria will soon begin to produce locally manufactured handsets as a Chinese company, ZTE, is working round the clock to commission the factory in Abuja hopefully before the end of the year”, he stated.

To him, mobile phone costs and its payment scheme need to change in order to address the problems of low income users.

The average price of the prepaid recharge card is still too high for low end users, Adebayo noted.

He added that tariff reduction is fundamental to encouraging consumption – and cheaper recharge cards, market promotions, discounts and special offers will further enable more customers to avail themselves of mobile usage.

The number of prepaid subscribers in Africa grew to 70.5 million at the end of 2004, an increase of 73 per cent, with Nigeria and South Africa providing 55 per cent of it.

Nigeria’s prepaid subscriber base grew from 10.7 million in 2004 to 16.8 million at the end of September 2005. South Africa’s level was 7.3 million.

Adebayo said although the United Nation (UN) has set a goal of 50 per cent mobile access by 2015, a new report from the World Bank notes that 77 per cent of the world’s population already live within the range of mobile network.

Ghanaian Communications Minister, Albert Tarfa, said the best way to grow the African economy much faster is to involve the private sector which knows how best to go about it.

According to him, global mobile subscription is expected to rise from the current 1.8 billion to three billion by 2010, about 50 per cent penetration level.

GSM Africa Vice Chairman, Chioke Ogugua, sought a reduction of multiple taxation to speed up development and ensure affordable services.