Nigeria and the Republic of Niger have signed a
bilateral agreement in Abuja for coordination of frequency utilization along
their borders to ensure seamless deployment of services within the two
countries.
The agreement signing ceremony was one of the highlights of the two-day Digital Economy Regional Conference, hosted by the Nigerian government and facilitated by
the Federal Ministry of Commissions and Digital Economy, which ended at the
Transcorp Hilton Abuja.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital
Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, signed on behalf of Nigeria, while his
Nigerien counterpart, the Minister of Post and New Information Technologies,
Mr. Moussa Baraze, signed on behalf of his country.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar
Danbatta and Niger Republic’s Chairperson of the National Council for
Regulation of Electronic Communications and Post, Mrs. Aichatou Oumani, were
witnesses to the agreement, which applies to the co-ordination of frequencies
existing in the Nigeria-Niger transboundary areas between 87.5 megahertz (MHz)
to 30 gigahertz (GHz).
The agreement indicated it will help in the effective coordination and sharing of frequencies and channels in the ‘buffer
zone or area’ on borderlines between the two countries and also help to address
one of the major issues of signal interference regulation that may arise in
telecoms signal transmissions by terrestrial telecoms service providers, as it
spells out the procedures for regulating such cases.
The agreement, according to the two parties,
provides, in part, that in case of harmful interference affecting one of the
parties, the affected party shall inform the other party in writing for
necessary action to be carried out.
“Also, the party from
whence the interference is originating shall ensure that all necessary means
are used to resolve the harmful interference within 30 days of receipt of the
notice”,
the agreement says.
While the Agreement is without prejudice to
the rights and obligations of the parties specified in the Convention, the
Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and other
inter-governmental arrangements, it states, however, that the land and mobile
services whose use is restricted for security, maritime and national defense or
for which information is not available, shall not be subjected to the
provisions of the agreement.
