Section 157: Interpretation.

In this Act-
"Access" means the making available of communications facilities and communications services one licensee to another for the purpose of providing services, and includes the connection of equipment by wire or wireless means, access to physical infrastructure including but not limited to buildings, ducts and masts, access to mobile networks, in particular for roaming, and access to number translation or systems offering equivalent functionality;
"Access list" means the list of facilities or services established under Part III of Chapter VI;
"Agreement" means an agreement, whether formal or informal, oral or written, express or implied;
"Applications service" means a service provided by means of, but not solely by means of one, or more network services;
"Applications service provider" means a person who provides an application service;
"Assignment" means the assignment by the Commission of rights to use the spectrum, numbers or electronic addresses and may include conditions to which the exercise of those rights shall be subject;
"Authorised interception" means interception by the licensee of any network facilities, network service or applications service permitted under section 148 of this Act;
"Board" means the Board of Commissioners established under section 5 of this Act;
"Class licence" means a licence for any or all persons to conduct a specified activity and may include conditions to which the conduct of that activity shall be subject;
"Commission" means the Nigerian Communications Commission established under section 3 of this Act;
"Communications licence" or "licence" means either an individual licence or a class licence issued by the Commission under Chapter IV;
"Communications" means any communication, whether between persons and persons, things and things, or persons and things, in the form of sound, data, text, visual images, signals or any other form or any combination of those forms;
"Communications sector" or "market" means an economic sector or market for a network service, or an applications service, or for goods or services used in conjunction with a network service or an applications service, or for access to facilities used in conjunction with either a network service or an applications service;
"Consolidated Revenue Fund" means the Fund established by section 80 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999;
"Consumer", "customer", or "subscriber" means any person who subscribes to and uses a communication service;
"Content" means any sound; text, still picture, moving picture or other audiovisual representation, tactile representation or any combination of the preceding which is capable of being created, manipulated, stored, retrieved or communicated electronically;
"Content applications service" means an applications service which provides content;
"Council" means the Federal Executive Council of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"Court" means a court of law of competent jurisdiction;
"Customer equipment" means any equipment, whether hardware or software, or device, used on the customer side of the network boundary;
"Direction" means a direction issued by the Commission under Part I of Chapter V;
"Equipment" means any equipment or apparatus used or intended to be used for communications and that is part of or connected to or comprises a communications system;
"Federal Government" means the Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"Individual licence" means a licence for a specified person to conduct a specified activity and may include conditions to which the conduct of that activity shall be subject;
"Instrument" includes a direction, determination or declaration;
"Intercept" means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any communications through the use of any electronic mechanical or other equipment, device or apparatus;
"Interception capability" means the capability of any network facilities or network service or applications service to intercept communications under section 147 of this Act;
"Interconnection" means the physical and logical linking and connection of communications systems used or operated by the same or different licensees in order to convey messages to and from the respective systems for the provision of services;
"ITU" means International Telecommunications Union;
"Licensee" means a person who either holds an individual licence or undertakes activities which are subject to a class licence granted under this Act;
"Minister" means the Minister for the time being charged with the responsibility for Communications;
"Minister of Finance" means the Federal Minister for the time being charged with the responsibility for Finance;
"Ministry" means the Federal Ministry for the time being charged with the responsibility for Communications;
"National Frequency Plan" means the frequency plan prepared under Part II of Chapter III and Part I of Chapter VIII for the management of any part or all of the national spectrum;
"Network facilities" means any element or combination of elements of physical infrastructure used principally for or in connection with the provision of services but does not include customer equipment;
"Network facilities provider" means a person who is an owner of any network facilities;
"Network service" means a service for carrying communications by means of guided or unguided electromagnetic radiation;
"Network service provider" means a person who provides network services;
"NFM Council" means National Frequency Management Council ;
"Number" means a number, letter or symbol ;
"Numbering and electronic addressing plan" means the numbering and electronic addressing plan developed, under Part II of Chapter VIII ;
"Owner" means the legal or beneficial owner ;
"Person" includes a corporate body or partnership and where an individual is required to represent a corporate body or partnership in any circumstance pursuant to this Act or its subsidiary legislation it shall be sufficient if in the case of a-
(a) corporate body, it is represented by its competent officer; and
(b) partnership, it is represented by a partner in the partnership or a competent employee of the partnership ;
"President" means the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ;
"Publication" of any information by the Commission pursuant to this Act or its subsidiary legislation, except otherwise specified in any particular section of this Act, shall be deemed as sufficiently effected if it is posted at the Commission's website and published in at least two widely circulating national newspapers ;
"Publication" of any information by a licensee pursuant to this Act or its subsidiary legislation, except otherwise specified in any particular section of this Act, shall be deemed as sufficiently effected if it is-
(a) officially sent to the Commission;
(b) published at the licensee's website ;
(c) made publicly and readily available to any member of the public at the licensee's offices that deal with or relate howsoever with its consumers ; and
(d) if the Commission so directs, published in at least one national newspaper ;
"Register" means any one of the registers established or maintained by the Commission for the purposes of this Act ;
"Service", except where the context otherwise requires, means applications, content, network or facilities services or any combination of these services ;
"Spectrum" means the continuous range of electromagnetic wave frequencies up to and including a frequency of 420 terahertz ;
"Spectrum assignment" means the assignment issued under Part I of Chapter VIII;
"Telecommunication" means any transmission, emission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, visual or other electro-magnetic systems ;
"Transmit" or "transmission" means to cause any emission of unguided electromagnetic energy in any part of the spectrum ;