The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted MTN and 9mobile permission to trial a national roaming service.

According to The Vanguard, this roaming service will allow a mobile subscriber “to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services when travelling outside the coverage of a particular network geographical area by utilising the network coverage of other networks”.

“The approval requires 9mobile and MTN to configure and test their networks towards simulation for customer experience [and it] covers a few local governments, designated as the National Roaming geographic area, in Ondo State.”

Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Umar Danbatta says that “the primary objective of the National Roaming Service trial is to encourage network resource sharing among operators”.

“This will lead to operational expenditure (OPEX) optimisation and capital expenditure (CAPEX) efficiencies capable of freeing up resources to expand mobile network coverage to unserved and underserved communities across the country. The measure is also expected to lead to improved quality of service delivery to subscribers.”

“The successful implementation of the trial will enable 9Mobile subscribers to access MTN network service within the National Roaming trial geographical areas without the need for an MTN SIM card.”

MTN Nigeria Appoints New CEO

MTN Group has appointed Karl Toriola, current VP for MTN Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region, as the new CEO of MTN Nigeria – effective 1 March 2021.

Toriola will take over as MTN Nigeria CEO from Ferdi Moolman, who has served MTN Nigeria with distinction in this role for the past five years. Moolman will return to South Africa, where he will assume the new role of Group Chief Risk Officer.

Source: IT News Africa