*Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission, advocates deeper collaboration among African Telecommunications and Communications Regulators to strengthen the use of data, evidence, market intelligence, digital transformation, and national development across the African continent
Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advocated deeper collaboration among African Telecommunications and Communications Regulators to strengthen the use of data, evidence and market intelligence.
The NCC underscored this for the telecoms and communications regulators to drive more effective and responsive regulation across the African continent.
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Speaking at the Heads of Regulators Roundtable during the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference of Plenipotentiaries (CPL-26), Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, in Abuja, FCT, Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC,
noted that communications regulation has become increasingly central to economic growth, digital transformation, and national development across the continent.
Maida observed although telecoms regulators operate within different market environments and legal frameworks, they face several common challenges.
He stated these include infrastructure development, cybersecurity, affordability, satellite services, resilience of networks, and the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.
He explained that exchanges among regulators often reveal shared experiences and lessons that could help institutions to address complex policy and regulatory issues more effectively.
The Executive Vice-Chairman of Nigeria’s telecoms regulatory Commission emphasised the need to make such knowledge-sharing more deliberate, systematic, and beneficial to regulatory authorities across Africa.
Mrs. Nnenna Ukoha, Director of Public Affairs at NCC, in a statement Wednesday, quoted Dr. Maida as well said: “Very often, the challenge one regulator is trying to solve has already been encountered, in one form or another, by a colleague elsewhere on the continent.”
The EVC/CEO of NCC described the theme of the event, “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation”, as both timely and highly relevant to the future of communications regulation on the African continent.
Maida further stated: “It gives us an opportunity to consider how better use of data, evidence and market intelligence can strengthen regulatory decisions, and how African regulators can learn more systematically from one another.”
Rimini Makama, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM) at NCC, who l chaired the roundtable, said “developments such as Broadband expansion, satellite services, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure are making communications ecosystems increasingly complex and requiring regulators to move beyond traditional regulatory approaches.”
Makama noted that regulators across Africa then, have access to growing volumes of technical, market and consumer data.
She, however, stressed that the real challenge lies in translating this information into actionable intelligence capable of supporting better regulatory outcomes in the ecosystem.
The Commission noted the Heads of Regulators Roundtable forms part of ongoing efforts by African communications regulators at promoting evidence-based regulation, enhancing regional cooperation, and building more resilient, innovative and consumer-focused communications ecosystems across the continent.