NCC seals bank, telecoms operator's office

The Nigerian Communications Commission has said it has sealed the equipment room of a branch of Intercontinental Bank of Nigeria in Wuse, Zone 5, Abuja, alongside that of a telecoms operator, IPNX Limited, for illegal use of the 5.4GHz Frequency Band.Head, Media and Public Relations at NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, in a statement on Sunday, said the enforcement action was in line with the commissions mandate and commitment to ensure that the frequency spectrum was not abused.He said the frequency spectrum was a finite resource of the country and that the companies involved were denying the Federal Government of its source of revenue.Two officers of the bank, he said, were handed over to the police for further investigations over the source of the transmission as the bank had no operational licence to provide the service while radio equipment from the bank and the telecoms company, IPNX, were seized by the officials of the commission led by the Head of Enforcement, Mr. Efosa Idehen.Muoka said apart from sealing the offices and removing the equipment of culpable companies, they would also be liable to paying all the relevant fees for those frequencies for the duration they had utilised them, in addition to paying the penalties associated with defaulting on the provisions of telecommunications regulatory statutes.He said the commission was able to detect the illegal operators and users through its state-of-the art signal monitoring equipment which it was deploying in the country to ensure that no company or organisation illegally operates or uses the licensable frequencies in the country.Idehen, on the other hand, said the enforcement action, which came a few days after a similar one, saw the sealing of a telecoms operator; Galaxy Wireless Limited, to serve as deterrent to other illegal users or service providers on the licensable 5.4GHz spectrum band.According to him, the companies have been issued several direct warnings and public notices to steer clear of using the licensable frequencies as declared by the commission.
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