Stakeholders in the
telecommunications sector are worried about the negative attitude of some state
governments toward the expansion of Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) infrastructure in their respective states.
They declared that states’ unfriendly policies
are seriously hindering operators from either expanding existing infrastructure
or rolling out of new ones. The stakeholders, made this known at the Telecom
Executives and Regulator Forum, organized by the Association of
Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), with the theme: “Removing
Barriers to Growth and Innovation”, jointly called for the urgent intervention
of the Federal Government.
According to them, issue of multiple taxation;
exorbitant Right of Way (RoW) levies; non-adherence to agreement; multiple
regulations, vandalism, among others have posed serious hindrances to network
expansion.
They feared that,
should these problems linger beyond 2017, meeting the 2018 broadband target of
30 per cent may be a mirage, though penetration is currently at 21 per cent.
Though, the Federal Government said it aimed
accelerating the country’s industrialization efforts by installing 18,000km of
fibre optic cable across the country to improve broadband penetration, telecoms
stakeholders, who appreciated this effort, however, stressed that until those
identified bottlenecks are removed, the efforts may not really amount to
anything substantive, especially looking at some states’ attitude towards
telecoms operators.
The Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate
Affairs, 9mobile, Ibrahim Dikko, said government must see the National
Broadband Plan (NBP) as something for the nation, not just for the operators.
He revealed that operators are not expanding because state governments’
agencies see telecoms operators as ‘cash cows’.
Dikko lamented that there had been an
agreement between the operators and state governments on the amount to be
charged per meter for RoW, which was N145/m, “but as we speak, only five states
adhered to that agreement. Majority of the states now charge as much as N5000
per meter. How will an operator cope, especially one, which had the intention
of expanding services across a particular state?”
The 9mobile chief also hinted that currently
some states want telecoms operators to pay land use charge, “operators should
not be seen as a means to make money.”
From his perspective, the Director, External
Affairs, nTel, Osondu Nwokoro, to meet the broadband target, all arms of
government must synergize, saying the 18,000km fibre capacity can only
complement what the operators had on ground.
Nwokoro said Federal Government needs to
intervene in the challenges facing the ICT/Telecoms sector, saying the proposed
18,000km fibre cable cannot give Nigeria
Corroborating earlier claims, Chief Executive
Officer, Medallion Communications, Ikechukwu Nnamani, said states are not aware
of the need to have a vibrant ICT infrastructure. “The state authorities don’t
know what ICT can bequeath them,” he stated.
While appealing to the Federal Government to
intervene, Nnamani stressed the fact that lack of finance has hindered so many
operators from expanding and rolling out of new services.
There is need for
infrastructure bank. The economic situation in the country has made it
difficult to race finance for infrastructure development in the telecoms
sector. With adequate finance, the country can reach 50 per cent broadband
penetration by next year. Meeting the 2018 target requires so many things.
According to Osondu, penetration is one, demand is another and infrastructure
is another critical issue.
Osondu wants NCC to play some major roles,
which include expediting actions on National WiFi project (Hot spots), adding
that frequency is critical, opening the WiFi sub-sector of the market should be
a task that must be achieved.
On his part, the President of ATCON, Olusola
Teniola, believed that government support has become so critical in moving the
sector forward. As such, he stressed that government can support the sector in
the area of spectrum management, saying that government agencies should not see
telecoms operators as people they can just latch on the make quick money.
