Nigeria’s telecoms sector has witnessed astronomical growth in telephony access and data penetration in recent time. Today, active telephony lines are well over 130 million with about 56 million Nigerians having access to the internet. The mind-illuminating success being recorded in the telecom industry is now being eroded by indiscriminate clampdown and vandalization of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites across the country, which has affected the Quality of Service (QoS) being experienced by GSM subscribers and other internet users. In other to curb this menace, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently expressed displeasure at the incessant closure of telecom BTS sites nationwide by various agencies of the Federal, State and Local governments, warning that no government agency has the right to seal any telecom tower. According to the NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah, telecoms towers, are critical national infrastructure, which for no reason should be indiscriminately touched, let alone put under lock without permission by a competent Court of Law.
In 2012 alone, the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) sealed over 50 telecom masts across the nation. In 2013, both GLO and Visafone base stations were sealed by NESEREA at various locations.
To buttress this, the NCC in its recent advertorial tagged: “Dangers Associated with the Sealing of BTS in Nigeria; said, “while the Commission encourages its licensees to fulfill their obligations with respect to the payment of all legitimate taxes and procurement of relevant permits, it is however disturbed by the indiscriminate closure of telecom facilities without exhausting available dispute resolution mechanisms, it is a fact that telecommunication infrastructure are considered Critical National Assets, hence, the action of sealing any BTS site has severe security implications, especially owing to the prevalent security challenges being experienced in the country today. In addition, the sealing of BTS sites portends grave consequences on the already constrained Quality of Service (QoS), the NCC stressed.
Not too long ago, MTN Nigeria had a running battle with the government of Enugu State, over the arbitrarily closure of its BTS sites. The action of the Enugu State government was predicated on a claim that telecom operators were indebted to the tune of over N700 million as accumulated approval fees and penalties for building illegal cell sites. Specifically, the State Ministry of Lands and Urban Development also threatened to shut down two MTN sites every day until MTN accede to its demand for N464, 400, 000 as payment of penalties for allegedly building 129 sites without appropriate permits. MTN in defense of its position said, “We wish to bring to the attention of the public that the State government’s action is guided by a law which was only enacted in 2012. However, the 129 base stations in question were constructed before the enacted of the extant law. Such retroactive legislation is universally deemed to be unfair and draconian. Despite our concerns over the application of a retroactive law, in February 2014 MTN paid the sum of N85, 785, 000 being statutory payment for the 129 stations in question so that there is no disruption of service in the state. However, the State Government are still demanding a further N464 million as penalties owed by MTN under the aforementioned vexatious law. Our position is that this is excessive and illegal”. MTN stressed. The following thought-provoking questions are raging on the minds of stakeholders in the telecom industry: without sounding sentimental or immodest, does Enugu State government have the constitutional powers to clampdown on BTS? Before embarking on this ill-conceived action, did Enugu State consider the implications this would have on voice and data services in the State and its environs? Who would bear the cost emanated from loss of service to several Base Transceiver Station (BTS) across Enugu and neighboring states; poor network quality and possible loss of network coverage for MTN subscribers in the affected areas during this difficult period of closure of BTS sites? Who will compensate third-party clients (mostly banks and other big corporate clients); for the loss of enterprise data service, which greatly impacted on services such as ATMs and POS during this period? Is it logical to apply a retroactive law which was only enacted in 2012 when demanding for approval fees and penalties for BTS sites built over a decade ago? Is the state government only interested in boosting its Internally-generated Revenue (IGR), without considering the adverse effect on the Quality of Service (QoS)?
In furtherance of its regulatory responsibility to tame this ugly development of indiscriminately sealing of BTS, the NCC stated categorically in its recent advertorial which was signed by Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs, said, “No individual or agency of government has the powers to seal any public infrastructure except with the pronouncement of a Court of competent jurisdiction; the Nigerian Communications Commission being the sole body responsible for the regulation of telecommunication industry in Nigeria hereby frowns at the action of sealing of any BTS site and would like to use this medium to emphasize on the need for all stakeholders to desist from this act”. The Commission stressed.
Apart from the arbitrary clampdown on BTS sites by Federal, States and Local governments agencies, another bottleneck being faced by network operators in developing critical infrastructure like BTS across the country, which will in turn enhance Quality of Service (QoS) is the abysmal vandalization of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) by hoodlums; Insurgents and touts. It is on record that the Boko haram crisis has dealt a big blow to telecom facilities in the northern part of the country; especially the north-eastern states like Borno; Adamawa and Yobe, where critical national infrastructure have been destroyed by Bokoharam dastardly actions; which has impacted negatively on the Quality of Service in those affected states—some parts of north-eastern states no longer have access to telecommunication services like voice and data because of the activities of the insurgents. For Nigeria to consolidate the successes being recorded in the telecom sector, telecom assets like BTS must be guided jealously with every sense of commitment.
