The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged the incoming National Assembly to look into and ensure the passage of the Critical Infrastructure Bill to address the issue of vandalisation and theft of telecommunication infrastructure in the industry.
The NCC believed that if this is done, it will also help to tackle the problem of poor quality of service that has defied every measures adopted in the country.
Meanwhile, the commission, which recently donated books to the Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUA) in Abia State, under the National Books Donation Initiative (NBDI), has developed 112 as National Emergency Number.
The telecoms regulator has also said that a guideline that would provide sanctions for telecommunications operators which send unsolicited text massages to their subscribers would soon be unveiled.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, who disclosed this at different fora in Abuja and Abia state repectively, said that the only way to address the issue of poor quality of service is to have a pervasive infrastructure and ensure that such are adequately protected.
He stated that even though the Nigerian telecommunications industry has grown in leaps and bounds with active voice subscriber base of about 142.5 million, a teledensity of about 101.8 per cent, about 83.2 million Internet subscribers and Foreign Direct Investment of about N32 billion, the infrastructure on ground today was inadequate to cope with the high number of subscribers in the country.
He said: “As at 2001, the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), which was supposed provide the backbone for the new telecommunication operators was already moribund and in other countries, the telecommunication infrastructure on ground was what the incumbent telecoms operators relied upon to deploy services, we need to put in place adequate infrastructure to meet the demand of our population and thereby provide good quality service to telecom consumers in the country.
“For instance, in the Federal Capital Territory, no approval has been given for sitting of new base stations for many years, although recently there was a change of mind for additional base station the technology of GSM is inter cellular and requires adequate coverage to avoid drop calls.
No permission has been given for sitting of new base station at the National Assembly since the past five years. “The issue of quality of service would be addressed if more infrastructures were deployed across the country.
We have engaged the governors on this issue through the Nigerian Governors Forum and the governors complained that telecom operators destroy our roads and don’t cover them, they must give us a guarantee that anytime they dig the rods, they must cover it up.
“We came up with a guideline and in the guidelines, we agreed that the first person that is going there puts the infrastructure for everybody so that other operators don’t have to dig the road anymore but he governors are not signing the guidelines for putting telecom infrastructure, every state need to sign to address the problem”.
Juwah who was represented by the Director Public Affairs in the commission, Dr. Tony Ojobo, said that the problem of multiple taxation and regulation in the industry slows down the deployment of infrastructure.
According to him, the commission is engaging the state governors to find out “if would be better to allow investments to come in first and we start taxing them or do we tax them upfront and then chase them away. Unfriendly tax system is a disincentive to investment.
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