Some Information Tech
nology (IT) experts have commended the appointment of Prof. Umaru Danbatta as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The experts, in separate interviews  newsmen  in Lagos, said the appointment was a welcome development as Danbatta would use his wealth of experience to transform the sector.
President Muhammadu Buhari  penultimate Tuesday appointed Danbatta as the NCC’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) to replace Dr Eugene Juwah whose tenure had expired.
The Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria (PIN), Mr Gbenga Sesan  said, “the appointment of Danbatta as the new NCC chief is a welcome development.
“I think with his academic experience, he will be able to bring positive changes to the country’s communications sector.
“He has been in the system for a long time, we expect him to advance the sector and bring it to international standard.’’
He advised the newly appointed NCC chief to seek the support of the National Assembly.
Sesan urged stakeholders in the telecoms sector to continue to support the NCC, so it could be the professional institution it ought to be.
President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), Mr Deolu Ogunbanjo, said that Danbatta should tackle the poor service delivery in the telecoms industry.
Ogunbanjo called for sanctioning of network providers when they fall short of quality service delivery.
He also said that subscribers should be compensated when network providers fall short in delivering efficient services.
Ogunbanjo said he wanted a situation whereby NCC would carry out a field performance check in the sector every six months, so as to fish out erring service providers.
“The new CEO should ensure that regulators compensate subscribers on those networks that fall short of their performance in the sector parameter,’’ he said.
The NATCOMS President said as long as government had a percentage in the calls subscribers made, sanctioning operators with fines in form of cash amounted to double taxation.
He urged the executive vice-chairman to forestall that from happening, saying the NCC could sanction them with fines in form of free airtime to subscribers.
Ogunbanjo said the new NCC administration should also tackle the issue of unsolicited Short Messaging Service (SMS) as the last NCC administration did not do much to tackle it.
On his part, the President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Mr Bayo Banjo, said he wanted Danbatta to look into the anti-trust laws and the anti-competitive laws.
Banjo said the NCC should ensure that erring telecoms companies are punished so as to move the industry forward.
“We want to see someone that will understand the anti-trust and anti-competitive laws, one day.
“We want someone that will understand that people should be punished when they err, so that the industry can develop,’’ he said.
The NIG president said the country could not strive to be like other countries in other climes, if such things as the anti-trust laws were not put in place.
He said the biggest problem facing the laws was that NCC did not punish defaulting companies.
According to him, the idea of NCC collecting fines from damages awarded to companies is not good enough, as such fines ought to go to the company that wins the damages.
He said if such money was paid to the company, it would help in its growth.