By John Ikani
Telecommunication Operators, including Globacom, Airtel, MTN and others, have threatened to raise tariffs over the rising cost of doing business and the safety of telecommunications infrastructure in the country.
The position of the companies was made known by Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), during a press briefing on Thursday.
Mr Adebayo said the seizure of cellular sites in Kogi, concerns about degrading quality of services in Abuja, high cost of diesel, inflation and safety of telecom workers and infrastructure are the issues presently bedevilling the telecom industry.
“We are concerned that unless there is an intervention to save this sector, operators will have no choice than to begin a process of price review.
He disclosed that telecom operators had expressed concern about the shutting down of telecommunications facilities in Kogi State because of disputes arising from taxes and levies demanded by the Kogi State Government through the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KIRS).
“The action by KIRS was hinged on an ex parte court order obtained by the KIRS over unsubstantiated allegations that our members are in default of tax payments to the state government (which is not the truth) and access to these critical telecom sites has been denied.
“This issue is likely to lead to a total communications blackout in the entire Kogi State, parts of Abuja the Federal Capital Territory and possible impact on service availability in some parts of the following States: Nassarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Niger States.
“These are States sharing borders with Kogi State’’, the ALTON’s chairman, who also doubles as the joint spokesman for all the telecom operators, said.
Speaking on the degrading quality of service in Abuja, he said: “The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Directorate for Signage and Advertisement, has refused to grant telecommunication service providers, permits to build infrastructure in the Federal capital city.
Mr Adebayo said that the refusal was affecting the quality of services around FCT and Abuja.
He urged the Federal Executive Council to prevail on the FCDA in granting approval/permit to its members to deploy infrastructure.
“ALTON and its members will no longer tolerate discriminatory charges against the sector.
”The industry is planning to begin a study on varying tariff to some of the unfriendly telecommunications states in other to accommodate their demand,” he said.
Mr Adebayo said: “We want to be clear and state categorically that the action by Kogi and FCDA will jeopardize communication services provided by our members to Nigerian subscribers.”
He said it would also negatively affect the use of critical communication infrastructure by the national and state security agencies in the discharge of their duties to provide necessary security for the country.
ALTON also expressed concerns about the rising cost of diesel and its implications on the general high cost of business.
Adebayo said: “We are concerned that unless there is an intervention to save this sector, operators will have no choice but to begin a process of price review.
“The state of security in our country is of concern, while we commend all our security agencies for the work they do to keep us all safe, the impact of the general state of security in the country is that we are not able to provide 24/7 support in certain areas as it is unsafe to send out service personnel to some parts of the country and to other at certain times of the day.”
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