Nigeria, Niger Sign Agreement On Border Frequency Coordination

To enable seamless service deployment between the two sister nations, Nigeria and the Niger Republic have inked a bilateral agreement for the coordination of frequency usage along their borders.

Dr Reuben Muoka, the Director of Public Affairs (DPA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said this on Sunday in Abuja.

One of the highlights of the two-day Digital Economy Regional Conference, hosted by the Nigerian government and organised by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, according to Mouka, was the signature of the agreement.

He said that the Niger Republic's Minister of Post and New Information Technologies, Moussa Baraze, signed on behalf of the Niger Republic while Nigeria's Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, signed on behalf of Nigeria.

According to Mouka, the National Council for Regulation of Electronic Communications and Post's Chairperson, Aichatou Oumani, and the NCC's Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, both saw the ceremony.

The agreement covers coordination of frequencies between 87.5 megahertz (MHz) and 30 gigahertz that are present in the Nigeria-Niger transboundary areas (GHz).

“The agreement will help in the effective coordination and sharing of frequencies and channels in the ‘buffer zone or area’ on borderlines between the two countries.

“It will 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,” he said.

The agreement will include, among other things, that in the event of adverse interference affecting one of the parties, the affected party should promptly notify the other party in writing so that the required action can be taken.

"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.”

While the rights and obligations of the parties established in the Convention were unaffected by the agreement, he added.

He stated that the deal was covered by the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Constitution and other inter-governmental agreements.

“The land and mobile services whose use is restricted for security, maritime and national defence or for which information is not available, shall not be subjected to the provisions of the agreement.”