The Nation Newspaper

Tag: masts

  • ‘Telecoms masts constitute no health hazard’

    ‘Telecoms masts constitute no health hazard’

    The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has said World Health Organisation (WHO) has given a clean bill of health to telecoms masts and towers that they do not constitute health hazards.

    The Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, spoke at the weekend at the ‘NCC day’ at the trade fair in Port Harcourt.

    Represented by the Head, Department of Projects, Bashir Idris, Danbatta warned against resisting expansion and improved service delivery by communities and individuals, who refused right of way access to telecoms companies for fear of the myth.

    He said: “There are individuals who believe that telecoms masts and towers constitute health hazards to human beings. The commission maintains that WHO has affirmed that no result of any such hazard has been established against base stations.

    “Therefore, any individual or community adducing such reasons to deny right of way to telecoms companies and prevent them from expanding services are contributing to the poor quality of service in the network.”

    The vice chairman hinted that NCC would soon issue a directive to service providers to give 14- day window to subscribers to enable them roll over unused data.

    He said the move will stop the present practice where subscribers lose their unused data if they fail to renew on the date of expiration of the subscription.

    Danbatta said the issue of data expiration at the end of 30 days had been an issue of concern among consumers, noting that the commission had put service providers on special notice about the present monitoring of user experience and would call them to account in due course.

    He said the commission had embarked on sensitisation programmes to inform consumers about their rights and responsibilities.

  • Lagos plans fresh sanction for telecoms operators over masts

    THE Lagos State Government has threatened to impose fresh sanction in the form of fines on all telecoms operators over their refusal to submit the accurate list of telecoms masts of the operators to the state. The General Manager, Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit (UFRU), Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who gave the hint in Lagos, said “the state government is worried by the dis masts submitted by some of the operators, and the refusal of other operators to submit any list.” UFRU is the state agency responsible for the supervision of all installed infrastructure in the state, including telecoms masts. Igbokwe said UFRU would henceforth embark on the numbering of all telecoms masts in the state, and warned that any operator whose figure varies from the actual number of masts it operates in Lagos, would attract a penalty of N5 million per mast. He called on operators to be honest in submitting the list of their operated telecoms masts in Lagos without further delay. Igbokwe, who also frowned at the recent collapse of a hollow type communications mast belonging to Access Bank, said the UFRU would begin the decommissioning of all hollow type masts and towers in the state after April 30th this year. He explained that banks, insurance companies, government agencies, oil companies, ICT companies, hotels, schools and other small users of communications masts have ignored the state government’s ultimatum to replace old and dangerous hollow type masts with galvanized steel masts. Recounting the dangers of hollow type masts, Igbokwe said many people have lost their lives and property worth millions of naira to collapsed masts in the state, insisting that all users of communications masts must replace them with galvanised steel masts.

  • Battling to phase out hollow masts

    Battling to phase out hollow masts

    The Lagos State Urban Furniture and Regulatory Unit (UFRU) has been battling recalcitrant masts users to decommission the old hollow pipe masts in their premises and erect the standardised galvanised steel masts, which are not susceptible to collapse.  Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie x-rays the move by the government to enforce compliance and halt the menace posed by disused masts.

    If 52-year-old Adeolu Adeleke, knew what fate had in stock for him on May 10, 2013, he would probably have stayed indoors and most likely be alive today.

    But as he had done for several years, he left his house that day for Number 52, Marina in Lagos, to eke out a living as a roadside petty trader selling wares, hoping to return home at the end of the day with some money in his pocket. He never did.

    As he sat down waiting for customers, the clear blue sky suddenly became dark and within a twinkling of an eye, a fierce wind invaded the area. And as he scrambled to gather his wares together and take to a safe location the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour accompanied with storm. In the process the wind brought down a faulty hollow mast on top of a nearby two-storey building and deposited it on Adeleke crushing him to death. The mast belonging to Jubilee Savings and Loans Limited, also damaged structures in the area.

    Adeleke’s case was one of the several people crushed to death in the Lagos metropolis by collapsed masts erected on top of buildings and other business premises. Many people have been killed, houses destroyed and properties estimated in billions of naira have been destroyed by masts made of hollow pipes which often come down each time there was heavy rainfall accompanied with strong wind.

    These hollow pipe masts being used by banks, financial institutions, internet service providers and other companies are susceptible to collapse as they cannot withstand severe pressure from wind and storms. And the state government is expectedly worried.

    In a bid to salvage the situation, the Lagos Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit (UFRU), an agency under the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, decided to take to bull by the horns in ensuring that the issue of incessant collapse of masts in the state is brought to a halt or minimised to the barest minimum. The government decided that all masts users must replace their hollow pipe masts with the new and modern galvanised steel masts. The galvanised steel mast is thick, big and can withstand severe pressure from wind, storms and rusts.

    Early last year, UFRU held a stakeholders’ meeting with banks, financial institutions, internet service providers and other companies using hollow masts, intimating them of the need to phase out the hollow pipe masts and replace them with galvanised steel masts. After purchasing the galvanised steel mast, approval must be sought from UFRU and an installation fee of N850,000 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) must be paid per installation. For the records, there are about 5,000 hollow pipe masts in Lagos

    Due to non-cooperation from the stakeholders, the government in September 2013, issued a 60-day ultimatum to users of hollow masts to decommission them and commission the galvanised steel masts, vowing to remove any hollow pipe mast still standing after the expiration of the ultimatum which lapsed on December 31, 2013. To set the example, Governor Babatunde Fashola dismantled all hollow masts being used at the State House, Ikeja and replaced them with the galvanised steel masts.

    General Manager, UFRU, Mr. Joe Igbokwe lamented that death caused by this type of mast in the metropolis had become a recurring decimal, saying the death toll had been increasing. Igbokwe said, the government had come up with a prototype mast that it wanted banks, internet users and others to adopt and build, stressing that UFRU expected that the operators would change their minds in their interest so as to avoid incurring the wrath of Lagos State government.

    “We have severally engaged and dialogued with banks, internet service providers and other small users, who use these local masts to boost their communication systems to see the need to employ new ways of building these structures to stem the tide of these tragic incidents, but they will not listen.

    “We have carried out series of structural integrity tests on some of these structures and reports made available to them. Our findings on some of the masts within Lagos metropolis have shown that nearly all masts in the state used by banks and other companies are not only defective, but accidents waiting to happen at the slightest wind storm,” he explained.

    Igbokwe said, the report exposed the causes of this failure to include bad foundation, rusted joints, bad height, space problem, abandoned mast, weather condition, lack of maintenance and use of inferior materials. According to him, “we have also made it known to them that these tragic incidents of masts collapse and their attendant grave consequences could be reduced to the barest minimum if the operators and other users will listen to us and adopt UFRU standards and specifications.”

    He said the time had come for UFRU to wield the big stick, saying that the government did not need to beg residents to obey the law for the common good of all, adding that “insurance companies and other local users must evacuate their old disused and dangerous masts to save lives and property. They have 60 days to go round their branches, remove outdated masts and seek permit to erect new ones. If they fail to do it, UFRU will carry out the task and the companies involved will pick the bill. Enough is enough.”

    At the expiration of the ultimatum date, UFRU swung into action in January 2014, by dismantling the hollow pipe masts belonging to First Bank branch, opposite Daily Times; United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Union Bank on Acme Road, among others. Services were disrupted in the three banks as all their networks connected to the masts were cut off by UFRU officials, who stormed the banks with armed policemen to enforce the ultimatum.

    According to Igbokwe, government had been trying to persuade banks, internet providers and others using masts to switch to the new ones for about two years, lamenting that they had refused to comply with the directive. “We have been asking banks to remove the disused hollow masts in Lagos State because of the coastal nature of the state and the inherent dangers involved. They think we are not serious. We just started with these three banks. These three banks have not been showing commitment to this issue.

    “They are not committed, we just want to show them the stuff we are made off; there is no need talking and talking. We are using this as a serious note of warning to all other users to decommission their old mast and commission the new one,” he stated.

    Igbokwe said, for allowing government to dismantle their (hollow) masts for them, the affected banks would pay N250,000 each as fines for not complying with government’s directive, saying that “we have done away with the hollow type of masts and have moved to the galvanised masts.” He said UFRU had enough manpower to enforce compliance and would not mind whose ox is gored, as the safety of lives and properties were paramount to the government.

    Despite this action, some mast users have remained recalcitrant and refused to dismantle their hollow masts. But due to plea for extension, UFRU has issued a final ultimatum extending the deadline to April 30, 2014.

    Igbokwe said, “we want to serve this as a final warning to all concerned. The concerned companies, organisat-ions and small users have been treating the UFRU directive with impunity and disregard. They have begged and asked for more time to comply and as such, UFRU had shifted the ultimatum for compliance several times while these companies and organisa-tions have consistently refused to comply.

    “Since the last ultimatum, only banks like Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and WEMA Bank have shown serious commitment to comply with this directive. Except these three banks, others including government agencies (federal and state) have ignored our ultimatum to replace these old, dangerous structures.

    “Some of the companies that still use these old masts have asked for more time, which we have given. We will commence total decommissioning of these old masts if they have not been removed by April 30, 2014. UFRU has been magnanimous on this so far because we did not want to cause disruption to the services of these companies, agencies and organis-ations.”

  • Outrage over bombings of telecom masts

    •Otunba Mike Adenuga
    •CEO MTN Nigeria, Brett Goschan

    The bombing of the base stations has re-opened debate on the security of their facilities of some telecom firms in some states in the North. In this report, AKINOLA AJIBADE examines the economic implications of the disaster to operators and subscribers.

     

    BEFORE last week’s bombings of their masts in some states in the North, it was evident that telecom firms have operational problems, such as infras-tructural gap, poor power supply, huge costs, bad network and poor security system. The bombings have compounded these problems.

    Though the Ministry of Communications and Technology, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and operators in the nation’s Information and Technology Communication (ICT) have taken some proactive steps to address the problems, they still need to do more.

    Each time concerted efforts are made to proffer solutions to salient problems in the industry, fresh ones crop up.

    Amid these challenges, the unexpected happened last week. The Islamic sect, Boko Haram, bombed some base stations in some states in the North. According to reports, about 30 Transreceiver Base Stations (TBS) were destroyed in the coordinated attacks. The base stations in Bauchi, Yobe Gombe, Borno and Kano states, are owned by MTN, Airtel, Glo, Visafone, Helios Tower and HIS Nigeria.

    Expectedly, the incident, did not go down well with stakeholders in the industry.

    The President, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria(ALTON), Lanre Ajayi, told The Nation that the bombing of the base stations has devastated many stakeholders in the information and technology(IT) value chain, stating that the development is going to have serious implications on both the subscribers and the affected telecos.

    He said the issue would impact negatively on the affected firms, as well as the communities that housed the base stations.

    “The bombing of the base stations will have untold effects on the affected telecom service providers and the communities in particular. The host communities would be denied access to telecom services. Their businesses would be affected, implying that they would lose a lot of money. The firms are not only going to lose huge revenues, but would spend a lot of money to build new base stations in those areas,” he said.

    Ajayi said it is difficult to put a figure to the 30 base stations destroyed by the Islamic sect, arguing that the cost is huge. He said base stations are of different qualities, adding that the value of a base station is determined by the type of infrastructure deployed in it. He said base stations carry different features or components, depending on what the telecom companies want to achieve.

    Also, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Teldom Group, Emmanuel Ekuwem, said the destruction of the base stations comes with attendant cost implications. Ekuwem said the communities where the base stations are sited, and the telecom companies are going to record losses.

    He said the bombers unknowingly, would share moral and economic losses because the development would deny them access to communicate to their loved ones and their sponsors in those areas.

    “The activities of the Islamic sect would be affected because they would be having impaired access to telecom services in the states where they bombed the base stations. On the flip side are traders, market women, artisans and students, among others that would be affected by the development. No, doubt, the issue is going to have multiplier effects on business activities. For telecom operators, it would be pretty difficult for them to access data on time until the new base stations are installed.

    “There are economic and physical implications to the destruction of the base stations. The economic aspect has to do with the services being rendered by the telecom companies, and the attendant benefits to business owners in the affected states. Whether the quality of the telecom services is lower or higher in those areas before the bombing took place, it is immaterial. The businesses would suffer. The physical cost has to do with the power, hardware, software and the depreciation of the naira. When the telecom companies installed the mast few years ago, the value of naira was higher than what it is today.”

    Ekuwem said telecom operators spend huge sums of money to acquire software and hardware components used for transmitting data across the airwaves, on generating alternative power, among others. This, he said, translate to billions of naira in cost to the firms.

    The former President of ATCON said only the contractors that supervised the construction of the base stations can provide the cost of building a base station.

    A stakeholder, Gbenga Adebayo, said the extent of damage on ICT infrastructures is great to the economy, adding that the attacks will affect the flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the nation’s telecommunication sector. He said such investors would see Nigeria as unsafe for their businesses. He said the development is a major setback for stakeholders, adding that investors would begin to see the country as unstable for business activities. He said subscribers in the affected areas and nearby areas would be affected by the development because they would not be able to have access to quality services henceforth.

    He said when the flow of local and foreign investment into the nation’s telecom industry is impaired, it would affect the growth of the operators, adding that some of the telecom towers destroyed were hub sites that connect to other base stations. He noted that the impact in terms of service disruption will spill over to other states in the region.

    Analysts argued that the major telecom operators affected by the development would spend huge amount of money to provide new base stations. This reasoning stemmed from the fact that a new base station on the average, costs about N40 million, translating to about N1.2billion for the 30 base stations. This is aside the cost of keeping the base stations running every month. They said N673,000 would be needed to maintain a base station monthly, while N8million would be spent yearly.

    This amount when multiplied by the 22,000 base stations across the country, translates to N175 billion annually for the operators.

    Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Airtel Nigeria Plc, Rajan Swaroop corroborated these assertions recently in Lagos. Speaking during the firm’s stakeholders’ forum, Swaroop said a lot of money is being spent on running base stations.

    He said 54 per cent of Nigerians are covered by the national grid, while 46 per cent are not. He observed that poor power supply has affected the operations of the telecom companies because they spend a lot of money in buying diesel for generators.

    Of note is the fact that telecom operators are extending services to rural areas where there is little or no access to power. This implies that the telecom service providers would spend more in those areas before they can provide good services to their subscribers.

    More worrisome is the lack of effective laws protecting telecom facilities from vandalisation. This has been a major problem as various stakeholders at different fora, have called for the enactment of laws that would guide and secure the facilities of the telecom operators in the country.

    At a recent forum in Lagos, the ex-Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, lamented the lack of prerequisite laws for the protection of telecom facilities in Nigeria. The forum ended with the call on the Federal Government to declare telecoms facilities as critical national security infrastructure, pending the time necessary laws would be enacted for the protection of ICT facilities.