The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for closer collaboration among telecommunications regulators across Africa to strengthen evidence-based regulation and improve the continent’s digital communications ecosystem.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Aminu Maida, made the call on Monday while declaring open the Heads of Regulators Roundtable held alongside the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Conference Preparatory Meeting in Abuja.

Speaking on the theme, “Building Africa’s Network Intelligence Ecosystem for Evidence-Based Regulation,” Maida said African regulators face similar challenges despite differences in market structures, legal systems and national priorities.

He noted that stronger cooperation would enable regulators to exchange knowledge, avoid duplicating efforts and jointly address issues such as infrastructure resilience, investment, satellite communications, cybersecurity, affordability, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

According to him, many regulatory challenges encountered by one country have already been addressed elsewhere on the continent, making structured collaboration essential to improving policy development and regulatory effectiveness.

Maida urged participants to share successful initiatives, lessons from past experiences and practical approaches that could strengthen telecommunications regulation across Africa.

Also speaking, the NCC’s Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management, Rimini Makama, said Africa’s digital communications sector has become increasingly complex with the expansion of broadband services, satellite technology, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital public infrastructure.

She said the primary challenge for regulators is no longer collecting data but using available information to make informed policy and regulatory decisions.

Makama stressed that as digital markets become more interconnected, regulators share a common responsibility to protect consumers, promote competition, attract investment and build resilient communications networks across the continent.

She added that the NCC would showcase its regulatory intelligence ecosystem, a platform that integrates quality-of-service data, consumer complaints, compliance analytics and market intelligence to support evidence-based decision-making.

According to her, the system has improved regulatory outcomes by strengthening consumer protection, enhancing market oversight and supporting more effective compliance monitoring.