...NATCOMS decries base station closure by NESREA
THE negative side of the state of emergency declared by the Federal Government in three northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa might have contributed in fuelling the persistent drop in quality of telecommunications services in the country, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has said.
ALTON is the industry body for all telecommunications companies and those providing subsidiary services to telecommunications service providers in Nigeria with the objective of promoting growth in the telecommunications sector. Members include the GSM, Code Division and Multiple Access operators (CDMA), Internet Service Providers, among others.
The Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke with The Guardian Tuesday, said the association appreciated the declaration of state of emergency because of the security loopholes and act of terrorism, which were on the increase in the country, but that because Nigeria operates a national network, coupled with restricted access in some northern parts of the country, telephone services have been affected.
In a related development, the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS) has also appealed to the Federal Government to call to order its agency, the National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), saying that the agency is disturbing telecoms industry growth by sealing Base Transceiver Stations (BTS).
According to Adebayo: "You will agree with me that security has been a major challenge of late in the country. We appreciated the declaration of state of emergency, but operators have suffered significant losses. We have lost several sites to bombings. Worst is that efforts to restore some sites back to functioning have been difficult because of restricted access, even where there is no state of emergency, security situation is a challenge and these services are interlinked."
The ALTON boss, who said the body prays for quick return of things to normalcy in the country, urged the Federal Government to provide relief for operators after the state of emergency status might have been lifted.
"There is no insurance against terrorism. We have lost several base stations to bombings; human capacities have also been restricted. We hoped that government will provide relief to operators after the present situation.
"It is pretty difficult to put figure to what operators have lost, but all I can say is that they have lost several millions of naira. The challenge has made things difficult and has impacted negatively on service offerings from these operators. There are combinations of networks in an area and when one is affected, others are bound to be touched."
Adebayo, an engineer, also lamented that there has been huge fibre cuts, especially from the affected areas, stressing that this has increased the pressure on the networks. He urged the Federal Government to put the Critical National Infrastructure status on all telecommunications infrastructure in the country, saying that this will reduce damage being done to the infrastructure.
According to him, the issue of fibre cuts, incessant closures of BTS by government agencies, local councils and issue of multiple taxations must be resolved if services must improve significantly.
On the sealing of BTS, NATCOMS President, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, said NESREA has sealed one of the Globacom's base stations in Dandur, Lantang North Local Council of Plateau State, for not adhering to its regulations.
According to him, NESREA said that Globacom failed to conduct a Site Specific Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), citing the provision of the EIA Act of 1992, before erecting its facility in the area.
"NESREA is also over-exploiting the humility of both the Minister of Communications and Technology and the President and Commander-In-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
"The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is the regulatory body by law, charged with the responsibility of regulating Telecommunications & ICT in Nigeria and should be left alone to do its job", he stated.
Ogunbanjo appealed to both the Minister of Communications, Technology and Environment to sort this issue out and leave the telecoms industry alone to concentrate on how to bring about good quality service to Telecoms & ICT consumers.
According to him, the Nigerian telecoms industry is currently suffering from very poor quality services with insurgents destroying masts and base stations; floods and natural disasters affecting some; state of emergency in some states affecting many and "now NESREA is closing down base stations with unparalleled impunity."
Speaking on the impact of state of emergency of telecommunications services, MTN Nigeria's General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Funmi Omogbenigun, said the declaration has really restricted access to network roll-outs, expansion and maintenance, adding that it has also impacted on revenue generation.
"During period of unrest or insecurity or restricted movement as is the case during state of emergency, routine maintenance of BTS and roll-out of network infrastructure will be a challenge. This will have a negative impact on QoS and revenue generation in the area in question until normalcy is restored", she stated.
The Guardian