…10 States Face Communications Blackout
Telecommunications Companies, among them Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), have asked the federal government to wade in to solve challenges they are facing in several parts of the country, especially in the Federal Capital Territory where they are not allowed to expand network except they pay huge access fees and Kogi State where their facilities are being locked up by state government demanding huge fees.
They also said that the increasing insecurity in the country is hampering network operation, across the country, especially the Northern part, where their workers face increasing chances of kidnapping and killing.
Increase in diesel, that has risen from N200 to about N700 per litre, causing rise of cost of service provision, coupled with logistic problems posed by insecurity, is making it difficult to power their communications stations, which rely heavily on electricity, and to move materials and personnel across the land.
The companies who spoke today through their umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said if solutions are not provided for the challenges they face in those states there would be dire consequences to communication services, as disruptions may occur in at least 10 states.
Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo who addressed the press on the pressing issues said if government, at various levels are unable to intervene and solve the problems within seven days, they would have no option than to seek options that would not favour telecommunication users in the country and the economies of several states.
Adebayo said, that their telecommunications facilities are being “shut down in Kogi State because of disputes arising from unusual taxes and levies demanded by the …State Government through the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KIRS)”.
He said the Kogi action “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.
The state government action, Adebayo warns “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.
Adebayo also said, “as a result of these actions by the state government, our members are unable to refuel the power generators nor provide any support or maintenance services in these sites, a situation which has currently resulted in generators nor provide any support or maintenance services in these sites, a situation which has currently resulted in the outage of over 70 sites including hub sites across parts of Kogi State.
“The impact of these outages will gradually spread to the states mentioned above and if no action is taken within the next few days, a total outage of telecommunication sites in all these states will be catastrophically experienced”, he added.
He said all ALTON members have settled all statutory levies and taxes due to the Kogi State Government and have taken necessary steps to comply with local laws that govern business activities within Kogi State.
On the FCT, Adebayo said the office of the Director for Signage & Advertisement has refused to grant telecommunication Service Providers permit to build infrastructure in the Federal capital city, a situation that is affecting the quality of services around FCT and Abuja.
The problem, according to him was created by the governing authority in the FCT.
He called on the Federal Executive Council to prevail on the FCDA in granting approval and permit to its members to deploy infrastructure, saying ALTON and its members will no longer tolerate discriminatory charges against the sector.
Adebayo said the actions by Kogi and FCDA “will not only jeopardize communication services provided by our members to the Nigerian subscribers, but will have the greater effect of negatively impacting the use of critical communication infrastructure by our National and State security agencies in the discharge of their duties to provide necessary security for the country, especially in these trying times, when communication across states should be uninterrupted and seamless.
He said the actions of Kogi and FCT come in disregard to a letter sent to the 36 states by the office of the National Security Adviser that emphasized telecommunications sites are Critical National and security Infrastructure.
“ONSA in that communication strongly advised against sealing them or preventing capacity expansion as low capacity and outages arising from such actions will have negative implications on national security imperatives.
“State Governments were directed to explore other means of resolving tax related disputes, and must not resort to the sealing of telecommunications sites.
“ It is therefore worrisome, the actions of Kogi State Government in particular and the FCDA authorities continue to ignore such advice, and have unabashedly commenced the sealing of our members’ base stations
While expressing concern about the wider implications of the action of the KIRS, ALTON called on President Mohammad Buhari to prevail on the FCDA authorizes and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello to as a matter of urgency bring his authority to bear on KIRS so as to prevent a total blackout in communications services in FCT, Kogi, and by extension other neighboring States of the Federation.
ALTON also said they were concerned about the rising cost of diesel and its implications on the general high cost of business.
“We are concerned that unless there is an intervention to safe this sector, operators will have no choice than to begin a process of price review.
“The state of security on our country is of concern, whole we commend all our security agencies for the work they do to keep us all safe, the impact of the general state of security on 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.
