The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in exercise of its powers under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, has commenced the process of developing a framework on licensing Application to Person (A2P) services in Nigeria.
The A2P messaging is a communication format in the telecommunications sector used to send Short Message Services (SMS) or for sending notifications from an application directly to a recipient’s mobile phone.
The A2P is initiated through the internet, but the text messages are transmitted over mobile networks, reaching recipients via their cellular connection.
This form of messaging is predominantly used by businesses and organisations to deliver bulk promotional or transactional messages, such as marketing campaigns, appointment reminders, announcements, product advertisements, and order status updates.
Among the several concerns raised by the stakeholders, they specifically noted that one of the reasons for the proposed regulatory oversights is to levy A2P SMS traffic appropriately.
They however reminded the NCC that the industry was already overburdened with incidences of multiple taxation and levies payable to different tiers of government.
