Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday boasted that quality of service (QoS) in the country was one of the best in the world and even better than services offered in Central London, England and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Commission has also unveiled the corporate governance code that will protect the over $25billion worth of assets in the telecommunications sector.

Speaking at the 75th Telecoms Consumer Parliament in Lagos, Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman/CEO, NCC, said that QoS provided by players in both the aviation and banking sectors of the economy were worse than the one offered in the telecoms sector yet not much noise is heard about that.

“I have heard about these complaints about quality of service in Nigeria. The quality of service in Nigeria is not the worst. The quality of service in this country is better than that of Central London, better than Dubai. Wireless telephony technology is rather complex. You cannot absolutely do without drop calls.”

Juwah who was reacting to the explanation of, Akinwale Goodluck, corporate service executive at MTN that QoS get degraded during wet season because of whirlwind, said while he will neither agree nor controvert that position, the technology of global service for mobile (GSM) communication is complex.

The NCC boss  explained that it is not within the mandate of the regulator to compel operators to give financial compensation to customers for poor QoS, adding that its mandate is to ensure that customers get fair deal by ensuring that they get value for their money.

He said the NCC will continue to sanction operators that fail to meet the specified key performance indicators (KPIs) while money paid from the fines will be paid to the coffers of the Federal Government for appropriation since the regulator does not have the power to “appropriate”.

He said customers that feel so aggrieved about the QoS issue should either go to the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) or the court to seek redress.

Earlier the the Commission unveiled  corporate governance code, a product of consultations among stakeholders, dating back to April 2012.

The commission said stakeholders had agreed that the absence of a common code binding on all telecommunications operators was hindering the growth of the sector.

It, therefore, noted that the code would put something new in the sector and would contribute to the nation’s rebased Gross Domestic Product.

Juwah, said the telecommunications sector was of strategic and high impact significance to the economy at a macro level, and had considerable reach at the micro level.

This, Juwah pointed out, was made up of a wide range of operators with diversity in size, scope of operations, asymmetry qualifications, legal and regulatory requirements, capital market activities as well as local and cross-border relationships.

“The combined factors of the strategic importance of telecommunications and the unprecedented growth of the sector (over 130 million mobile subscribers), with extensive reach across all social and demographic groups in the Nigerian economy, makes it imperative that operators in this critical sector must uphold a code of corporate governance, which is specific to their industry,” he added.

At the launch on Thursday, Dr. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology, said that the major factor in corporate governance is to create a system that holds decision makers accountable while according proper respect to their positions in the company.

Johnson added that the standard accountability mechanisms, as generally accepted, are the market, shareholders voting, and civil and criminal liability.

The Minister who was represented Engineer John Ayodele, a director at the Ministry, alluded to the theory that these mechanisms work together to create incentives for responsible decision making and to deter self-dealing or other forms of misconduct.

“In reality, however, each of these accountability mechanisms contains flaws that allow corporate governors to sometimes exercise an unreasonable degree of discretion when making decisions that affect the fortunes of stakeholders. When governance systems fail, the impact can be devastating for parties.

“Working with stakeholders, NCC has fulfilled its responsibility by putting in place a framework that adequately contains minimum best practices. The Code is however, dynamic therefore as new experiences accrue and business circumstances change its content and structure will be adjusted through periodic review and consultation,” the Minister said.

Johnson also tasked the NCC to develop and effective post-launch monitoring scheme with allocated responsibilities for supervision, implementation and enforcement among different operators in a clearly defined way.

Nodding in agreement, Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman (NCC), said that the Code became expedient as telecommunications forms strategic and high impact significance to the economy at the macro level and has considerable reach at the micro level.

He said that the sector is made of wide range of operators with diversity in size, scope of operations, asymmetry qualifications, legal and regulatory requirements, capital market activities as well as local cross-border relationships.

“The combined factors of the strategic importance of telecommunications and the unprecedented growth of the sector; having over 130 million mobile subscribers, with extensive reach across social and demographic groups in the Nigerian align to and uphold of a Code of Corporate Governance which is specific to their industry.

“Also, the recognized corporate governance principles of accountability, transparency, integrity and ethical conduct, independence, etc., are important for all types of companies operating in the telecommunications industry, whether public or private, large or small, as the requirement for good corporate governance does not wane on account of size or type of business affiliation,” the EVC added.

He maintained that shareholders and other stakeholders are now placing higher demand on companies to demonstrate these principles; hence NCC is determined to promote good corporate governance for the telecommunications industry.