Telecoms operators have faulted the refusal of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to grant approval to telecoms companies to expand infrastructure and enhance mobile telephone end user experience.
Acting under the aegis of Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), the operators described the attitude of the Abuja authorities as a national embarrassment.
Its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke on the sidelines of the ICT Growth Forum organised by NITRA in Lagos at the weekend, decried the recalcitrance of the authorities in Abuja over the issue, which he said, has affected coverage in the entire FCT.
He said what would fundamentally affect the fortune and misfortune of the telecoms industry is the attitude of people, especially those in privileged positions of power, adding that access gaps still exist across the country.
Adebayo said the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami and others have intervened on the matter, lamenting that the interventions had fallen on deaf ears.
“It is a national embarrassment that after the intervention of the minister and other senior government officials, the FCT authorities refused to give reason a chance. They refused to grant approval for us to expand our infrastructure, insisting on the payment of spurious charges,” the ALTON chief said.
According to him, the development has made end user experience in the city horrible as calls initiated from Abuja airport could hardly be sustained entering into the city because of lack of inadequate infrastructure which the authorities in Abuja has willfully orchestrated.
He said, unfortunately, the city is the seat of power with the important security agencies, including the Presidency.
Adebayo said the legacy challenges of spurious charges/levies/taxies, wilful vandalism of infrastructure, multiple regulation, punitive operating expenditure with high cost of diesel, insecurity and others still remain with the industry.
Faced with these challenges, he said the resort to alternative energy use has also been fraught with enormous challenges.
He said when the operators turned to tapping power from solar sources, the experience was good in the cities, adding, however, that when the same initiative was extended to the rural areas, the solar panels were pulled down and converted to ping pong tables.
When it came to exploring the wind option, Adebayo said it also was faced with the challenge of scra collectors who cannibalise the equipment for profit.
Source: Nation
