The Nation Newspaper

Tag: telecoms

  • Bill to protect telecoms infrastructure underway, says NCC

    A bill seeking to classify telecoms infrastructure as critical national projects and insulate it from willful vandalism will soon be presented to the National Assembly, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugen Juwah has said.

    He said the bill was at its final drafting stage. Juwah assured stakeholders that when it gets to the legislature and eventually passed into law, it will curb the menace of wilful damage of telecoms infrastructure be it metropolitan/rural optic fibre cables (OFC) or base transmission stations (BTS).

    The NCC chief spoke on the sideline at the ongoing Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Forum holding at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. He lamented that incessant vandalism of telecoms infrastructure in most parts of the country is partly responsible for the poor telecoms services being experienced in the country.

    He said: “The NCC is preparing a bill to classify telecoms infrastructure as critical national infrastructure. The bill is in its final drafting stage. And I am sure that very soon, the bill will presented to the National Assembly. A lot of work has been done on this in the Office of the National Security Adviser in conjunction with the Ministry of Communications Technology and the NCC and other important infrastructure that are also important. It is not only the telecoms infrastructure. Others are military infrastructure, aviation infrastructure and others.”

    According to him, it has taken so long for the bill to be prepared because of the enormous works that have to go into it. Inputs have to be received from all the major stakeholders in both the security and the telecommunications sector of the country.

  • Govt, stakeholders work on roadmap for listing telecoms

    The Federal Government and other stakeholders have started discussions on a roadmap that would lead to listing of the telecoms companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as part of efforts to support the development of the stock market.

    Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, spoke on efforts by government to ensure major companies in key sectors of the economy list their shares on the NSE during a visit to the stock exchange at the weekend.

    Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said government has intensified efforts to get more companies, especially those in the telecoms and oil and gas sectors to be listed on the NSE.

    According to her, the government shares the vision of making Nigerian stock market the premier stock exchange for Africa.

    She said stock market must develop in tandem with national economic growth noting that as Nigerian economy overtakes other economies, the stock market should also become the main market for the continent.

    Mrs Johnson outlined that discussions were ongoing on the roadmap for the listing of telecoms companies noting that most telecoms appreciate the need to list their shares on the NSE.

    “We have had very good discussions with the telecoms companies; they understand why they should list. What we are doing now is to prepare the plan for them to list because there are a number of things that need to be sorted out; these are very large companies. I think the difference here is that we have a plan and we would work that plan to ensure that we get the telecoms companies to list,” mrs Johnson said.

    She restated the support of her Ministry for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the NSE in their quest to bring the Nigeria capital market to where it was meant to be.

    She assured that efforts had gone beyond just calls for more companies to be listed as ongoing plan is being driven through collaboration of many stakeholders.

    “We have spoken a lot about the technology and I am so impressed with the amount of technology I see here today. It has been a tremendous improvement. The other reason that I am here is to bring more companies unto the stock exchange. The information and communication industry contributes 8.5 per cent to GDP, it is the fastest growing sector of the economy and we need to ensure that companies in the sector are listed on the stock exchange,” Omobola said.

    Okonjo-Iweala said that although market operators and regulators still have a lot to do to bring the market to its pride of place, government would remain key supporter of efforts to develop the market.

    “You have been and you are a key pillar of the Nigerian Economy. Different studies have shown that the way and the direction the stock market goes is very predictive for the rest of the economy and that is why this administration is very supportive of what you have done,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

    She said the government had demonstrated its resolve by standing by the market during the recent recession noting that government gave forbearance to margin traders and also took measures to eliminate capital gains and VAT taxes, which are currently being put into the gazette prior to implementation.

    President, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said stakeholders were anticipating the listing of the firms in the ICT industry because of the sector’s contribution to the national economy.

    He said the visit by the Ministers was a proof that the government was fully in support of the stock exchange.

    Responding on behalf of the stockbrokers, Doyen of the brokers and chief executive officer, Trust Yield Securities Limited, Mr. Ola Yussuf, commended the Ministers for their supports.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Quality of telecoms services poor, says NCC chief

    THE Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah, has described the quality of telecoms service across the country as poor.

    Juwah, who spoke in Lagos during a visit to Governor Babatunde Fashola, lamented that with the state having the largest number of subscribers in the country, it meant that the subscribers were getting telecoms services that were not good enough, adding that some of the factors responsible for the service quality challenge were beyond its control.

    He blamed the development on ignorance among the policy makers, adding that it could only be better if more infrastructure were in place.

    He said: “More investments are a critical success factor in improving the quality of telecoms service in the country.

    “Many people do not understand that telecoms can only be better with more infrastructures. For instance, in the UK (United Kingdom), there are more than 65,000 base stations for telecommunications services, in a land mass that is far less than Nigeria’s.

    “Nigeria is yet to achieve 25,000 installations across its huge land mass, yet many feel that we have enough and are defacing the environment. In a place like Lagos with very huge population, we have fewer base stations than required.”

    According to him, a study carried out by the NCC in 2009 identified a total of 6, 196 masts and towers in Lagos State. He said about 48 per cent of this figure belonged to corporate bodies and individuals while those belonging to the telecom companies were only 25 per cent of the figure.

    “Those belonging to the banks constituted about 18 per cent while those belonging to unidentified owners were eight per cent. The broadcast stations had two per cent of this figure. Even if the number of base stations owned by operators, which is 2, 975 then, had increased by 100 per cent, it would still fall short of what is needed to serve Lagos subscribers,” he said.

    He lamented that the nation is not blessed with many high-rise buildings that would have served for location of base stations without a lot of people seeing them.

    “Our people are also very resistant to the idea of having more base stations near their offices for reasons that could only be traced to ignorance or misinformation,” he added.

     

     

     

    Juwah said the regulator was also working at ensuring the security of the nation, especially during emergency situations, through the buiding of Emergency Communications Centres (ECC) across the country.

    He said the NCC has elected to assist both the federal and state governments, to introduce the service across the nation in partnership with state governments, adding that the pilot of these centres in Awka, Anambra State and Minna, Niger State have been commissioned.

    “Few more centres located in some other states would be commissioned soon. The NCC will equally appreciate the full collaboration and support of the Lagos State government to make Lagos a model city for emergency communications services. Our nation will be a better place to live in with an effective, pervasive and robust emergency communications services, assisting the police, fire service, ambulance services, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), National Emergency Management Services and other related services, a quicker way to respond to emergencies,” the NCC chief said.

  • ‘Telecoms sector is in dire straits’

    ‘Telecoms sector is in dire straits’

    Lynda Saint-Nwafor is a Core Network Planning Engineer at MTN, where she has been helping to define MTN’s Technology Strategy and Roadmap, designing and planning all aspects of MTN’s network operations. In this interview with Bukola Afolabi, she speaks on development in the industry.

    Could you say that the industry has fully recovered from the issues of flooding and armed insurgent attacks on telecoms infrastructure?

    Not at all, the industry has not fully recovered. This is because it will take more than targeted interventions to make sure that floods don’t become an issue this year and also rebuild the entire infrastructure that we lost to the insurgency. Recovery is going to be a long process because as we speak there are more attacks on our infrastructure in the North, and in some of those places where the attacks have subsided, access is restricted because security agencies are still giving us a red flag. So, it’s going to take a while for the industry to get back to where it was pre-flood and insurgency.

    What is the level of repair work right now?

    We had over 220 sites impacted by the incessant attacks in the North and to date we have been able to restore services to about sixty percent of those sites. We monitor the improvement in security in those areas before we deploy our staff and contractors for restoration activities. But I must say that there are some areas we were not allowed to come back. The communities feel that the presence of telecoms infrastructure is a risk to them and so do not want anything to do with us, posing a big challenge to the restoration effort.

    Has old equipment anything to do with poor quality of service in Nigeria?

    No, but the reality is that just like everything else, every equipment has a useable lifespan. But even for those old equipment, software upgrades and feature updates are provided by the vendors such that it continues to deliver value. So whilst old equipment doesn’t directly have any impact on quality of service, they might be inadequate in meeting the evolving needs of the market which is why upgrades are critical and essential.

    What’s the average lifespan for telecoms equipment?

    I can tell you that there are networks elsewhere in the world still running on equipment installed as late as fifteen years ago. As long as routine maintenance is carried out as and when due, telecom equipment will still deliver value but the challenge is that same equipment might not be able to deliver new services that are required by some subscribers. For example, a mono service Base Station delivering only 2G services can operate for donkey years but unsuitable to deliver 3G services.

    What is responsible for the success recorded in the telecom industry in Nigeria compared to other African countries, despite our highly challenging business environment?

    Three things in my view have been responsible for the success we have recorded. Firstly, the vibrant regulatory environment. This is because without a predictable regulator, I am not sure we would have been able to achieve some of the successes we have achieved in the past eleven years. The second thing is the market. Nigeria is a country of over 160 million people in dire need of telecommunications services. The last but not the least is that we have operators with financial depth to make the right level of investments required to adequately penetrate the market.

    What’s your assessment of ongoing efforts to protect telecom infrastructure, particularly the critical Information and Communications Technology infrastructure bill?

    I believe it’s a step in the right direction. Telecommunications is not a luxurious service; it’s an essential service with substantial impact on the economy. I believe that the current efforts being driven by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobolanle Johnson, are commendable. They are long overdue. It will be a welcome development to see the bill passed.

    What has your experience been, working in a field dominated by men?

    Well, I have had a wonderful and extremely rewarding experience. This is because of the immense opportunity to enrich the lives of millions of Nigerians in a very challenging but thriving environment. It is indeed a humbling experience for me. Professionally, I don’t see myself as a woman, because that for me is creating a barrier. And once barriers are created, it’s only the mind that can extricate them. Essentially, I see myself as a professional who is here to deliver value. Having said that, it is quite an arduous task to be a successful professional, a successful mother and a successful wife. For that to happen, one has to have a fantastic support structure and that I have in my dear husband who is ever willing to offer his support. I also have a wonderful family that is always there and most importantly, I have a wonderful team – a breed of young professionals who are 99.9 percent Nigerians and are the best of the breed that this country can offer. Our team has been able to do things that were hitherto unimaginable and I am very grateful. I am extremely blessed to be where I am today. The grace of God has also been sufficient and His mercy never ends.

    Broadband penetration has remained poor. What is MTN doing to improve the situation?

    MTN is the first network in Nigeria to deploy data services everywhere we have a footprint. However, we are always looking for opportunities to improve the services that we deliver. We therefore have plans to deploy circa 3,000 3G base stations this year in addition to the ones in existence. We are upgrading our transmission backhaul infrastructure, modernising it from the traditional TDM to IP which delivers fast data services. On the core network, we have completed the upgrade to Evolved Packet Core which supports delivery of next generation data services and is also access agnostic.

    When do you estimate that 4G/LTE will fly in Nigeria?

    The regulator has given an indication of 2015 for the auction of 4G spectrum licences. By and large, if the spectrum is auctioned by then, we would see LTE services in Nigeria in 2016. It would probably take between six months and a year to deploy capacity across the country. However, there is an indication that some spectrum in the 800MHz band has been licensed to a new operator, which means there will be LTE services once the new operator is able to roll out the network. For us in MTN, preparing the network for LTE is one of the core objectives of the modernization project and we are ready on many fronts to deliver LTE services.

    How much has MTN invested in network infrastructure so far? Are we going to witness more investment in the network in the years ahead?

    MTN has invested over ten billion dollars in network infrastructure in Nigeria and that explains our Market leadership and our very extensive fibre infrastructure, the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Last year alone, we invested over 1.6 billion dollars and this year we are not relenting. We are investing even much more. We are not shy to make these investments as we still see value and potential in this market. We believe in the Nigerian market and will continue to make the necessary investments where and when required.

  • Big row over poor telecoms service

    Big row over poor telecoms service

    The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and National Association of Telecom Subscribers (NATCOMS) are in fresh row over issues bordering on poor telecoms services in the country.

    NATCOMS accused NESREA of indiscriminate shutdown of base transmission stations (BTS) which the association blamed for recent drop in service quality.

    But NESREA debunked the allegation, arguing that mobile services providers’ contractors shun the agency’s environmental regulations among other factors.

    The Director-General of NESRA, Mrs.

    yesterday reacted to the allegations made by NATCOMS President, Deolu Ogunbanjo on regular closure of base stations.

    Benebo stated that her agency cannot be blamed for the poor services, stressing that vandalisation of telecommunication infrastructure, incessant power outage among others, are liable.

    In a statement issued in Abuja, the Chief Press Secretary, Sule Oyofo, said it was imperative for telecommunication operators to adhere to environmental regulations for safety of the people.

    She stated that the nation was termed as a place where anything goes, and multi-nationals come in, set up their industrial concern; make profit without caring about the environment.

    “NESREA has nothing to do with poor services. Epileptic power supply, vandalisation or use of obsolete equipment are believed to be responsible for this.

    “Now, this can no longer be. Someone must be held responsible. We can no longer allow things to be done with impunity. There is a Transformation Agenda in place,” she affirmed.

    NATCOMS in a statement had stated, “It is rather unfortunate that NESREA under the leadership of Dr. Ngeri Benebo is overstepping its bounds once again, disturbing the telecoms industry by sealing base stations.

    “The Nigerian telecoms industry is currently suffering from very poor quality services with insurgents destroying masts and base stations; flood and natural disasters affecting some; state of emergency in some states affecting many and should not therefore be overburdened by the actions of NESREA,”

  • IT body: Indigenous engineers lost in telecoms revolution

    IT body: Indigenous engineers lost in telecoms revolution

    MANY indigenous engineers lost out in the telecoms revolution that brought over $25 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country.

    The revolution, which was unlocked by the liberalisation of the sector by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, also saw the provision and installation of massive information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure with security implications for the country being handled by foreigners, the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), has said.

    President of the body, Sir Demola Aladekomo, who spoke with The Nation in Lagos, warned that if care is not taken, the body could lose out again in the ongoing banking sector reform revolution that has thrown up a lot of opportunities in the production of cards, supply of point of sale (PoS) terminals and other fields.

    “What I mean is that the people that implemented the telecoms revolution in Nigeria were not NCS members. If they were members, they were at the periphery. We did not tackle that industry as a society. I don’t know the number that worked with Airtel, MTN, and these are huge IT infrastrucutre that all have massive security implications for Nigeria. They were largely implemented by foreigners, Nigerians hardly got involved. Yes they may have Nigerains as CTOs (chief technical officers) but look at the people under them.

    The CTO reports to South Africa, India and only God knows.

    “The local content did not benefit and there is always this multiplier effect on technology,” the president said.

    According to him, there would have been a tremendous job spin-off from the installation of these infrsastructure if they had been undertaken by indigenous engineers. He berated Nigeria’s predilection for importation.

    He said: “Imagine, we are saying we want to create five million jobs and one million jobs in the next five years. That revolution would have created nothing less than a million jobs for Nigerians. But what did you find? A lot of the technical are done in other countries and imported into the country. They were just downloaded, even servers and switches, they were all done over there and shipped into the country. But if it had been done by a local company, it would have employed people to do all those implementations. So, our argument is that we cannot keep losing out of these revolutions.

    He lamented:“The banking revolution, if care is not taken (we may lose out) in the manufacturing and devices. But where are the companies doing it? We are just importing it, we are consumers. How many countries can deploy more than 2000 PoS in six months? Not many counries, I can tell you for free.

    “In the next three years, we are going to import one million PoS terminals. Those terminals are not being assembled in Nigeria. We say we want to create jobs, how do we create jobs if we keep missing out of revolutions and if keep being an importing nation?”

     

  • ‘Nigerians ‘ll soon embrace insurance like telecoms’

    With the efforts being put in place by underwriters, the public will soon embrace life insurance products like they did in the telecoms sector some years back, the Managing Director Crystalife Assurance Plc, Mrs. Seyi Ifaturoti, has said.

    She told The Nation: “It is my belief that life insurance would be appreciated just as the telecommunications, which many people in the past, did not believe would be embraced by the number we have today.”

    She noted that the company has a basket of products ranging from education, health, pilgrimage policy, mortgage policies, credit life and more, all designed to improve lives.

    “We believe that addressing the needs of people would enable us to draw them to embrace our business. We have been trying to talk to people, engage in pool marketing, which we believe, sooner than later, we should be able to attain the desired level of penetration. It is our key objective to deepen the penetration of individual life business. We have given ourselves targets on how to achieve our set objectives,” she said.

    She said the operators would continue to educate the public on the need for insurance policies, adding that as soon as people begin to embrace it, it would have multiplier effects.

    The Crystalife Assurance boss said the opportunities for insurance has grown, requiring businesses to rethink product design, pricing, and distribution strategies to reach potential customers.

    On the investment into the company by LeapFrog, a leading emerging markets fund investor, she said the firm’s experience in building insurers in emerging markets would help CrystaLife stimulate significant growth in the sector.

  • Telecoms firms take inventory of damaged BTS

    Telecoms firms take inventory of damaged BTS

    Telecoms firms in Nigeria have started taking inventory of damage to base transmission stations (BTS) across the country, The Nation has learnt.

    At the end, they would approach the Federal Government for compensation since most of the damaged sites were damaged by terrorists.

    President, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, said the damage was enormous, adding that it would be too early to cost it.

    Adebayo lamented that the attacks have further compounded the huge interconnect debt of N20 billion in the sector, stressing that after the ascertaining the damage, the operators would seek the government’s intervention.

    “At this stage, we are still evaluating the magnitude of the losses we have suffered. Don’t forget that in some of the sites that were damaged in the northern part of the country, we have to carry out inetgrity test to ascertain the integrity of those sites. In some cases, we have to outrightly replace the entire site while in other cases, the foundation would have been seriously affected and may need to be decommissioned and reinstalled.

    “At this stage, we are at the level of information gathering, once we have all the facts in, we will know what to do and how to approah the government. We are not ruling out the fact that we may need to go to the government for intervention on behalf of members of the association,” he said.

    According to him, the flood that ravaged parts of the country also added to the problem. “We are hoping that we can get some interventions from the Federal Government in certain ways because the problem that we face (was not our making). We have the issue of attack on BTS. Our losses were quite significant. We lost money on account of the wilful attack on the infrastructure. We also had losses on account of the flood that swept some of the BTS across the country.

    “We are hoping that at some point, we can have some intervention from government to address this wilful and unwilful attack on these infrastructure because added to this is what you have seen about the state of the industry. Some of the players are actually struggling with the issue of the interconnect debt. So, it is not as rosy as some people feel it is with the industry,” the ALTON chief said.

     

     

     

     

  • Union condemns maltreatment of telecoms workers

    The National Union of Telecommunication Technology Employees (NUCTE) has decried the ill-treatment of workers in the telecommunications industry.

    National President of the union Mr Sunday Alhassan told The Nation that some of the foreign courier companies in Nigeria are violating the principles of decent work.

    He said private telecoms and courier companies’ workers lacked mechanisms that could protect and guarantee workers’ rights.

    He said the union intends to ensure the implementaion of ‘the decent work agenda’ in the industry through the unionisation of worker.

    He said: “Here in Nigeria, these companies deliberately breach our labour laws as they operate with impunity with clear anti-labour policies that are neither practised nor tolerated in their home countries.

    “As a result of this obvious unfair labour practices, workers in the private sector in Nigeria are caught up in conditions that defile decency at work and dignity.

    “They also interfere in the ability of workers to undertake their daily economic activities in the dignity and conditions that promote respect for the worker no matter his or her status.

    Noting that the International Labour Congress (ILO) has set decent work for all as the goal for its work, he said the four pillars of decent work are employment opportunities, workers’rights, social protection and representations.

    He added: “Most of these private companies operating in Nigeria comply with the labour laws in their home countries and as a result allow workers to unionise in their parent companies.

    ‘’So, I wonder why the situation should be different with them here in Nigeria when they know the rules.

    “The workers need to know their rights; they also need to know that where workers exist in an organisation, they need to have a union that will stand for them.

    “A body that stand between them and the management, to be able to speak on their behalf. The issue is about the workers themselves, because if the workers believe that their rights has been trampled upon, the only way to fight for this right is through the unions.

    “Individual workers will find it very difficult to challenge their management on some of these issues and so they need the unions to do that.

    ‘’But most often some of these workers don’t have the knowledge; majority of them are ignorant of what their rights are; and so we need to sensitise them; reorientate them and then enlighten them on some these rights.”

    Alhassan urged the ministries of Labour and Communications to regulate the operations of such operators to avoid confrontation with the union.

    Speaking on the future of postal service in Nigeria, Alhassan called for a speedy commercialisation of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to further stimulate the growth of the sector in the country.

    He said: “When an organisation is commercialised, what the government does is to give a take-off grant for it to get started. Along the line, the organisation fends for itself and begins to generate its own revenue.

    “Then, it begins to take care of its personnel and overhead cost. Funding, as the years go by, will definitely have to reduce. So, what the organisation does is to also generate resources to assist the government and boost the treasury of the government.”

    He said to reposition NIPOST commercially, it was imperative to study the activities of some of the privatised companies since the reform programme began.

    The union boss noted that this was to determine if commercialisation of these companies was working or not.

    He stressed the union was not opposed to the commercialisation of NIPOST.

  • NCC’s ban on telecoms’ promos in order

    NCC’s ban on telecoms’ promos in order

    SIR: The indefinite ban placed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on all promos and lotteries in the Telecoms industry is a welcome development. According to the Director, Public Affairs of the NCC Mr. Tony Ojobo, the ban is with immediate effect and shall continue to remain in force until such a time as may be determined by the Commission. It is very valid to assert that prior to the coming of this ban, Nigerians had for months suffered unnecessary hardship imposed on them by GSM providers in the country who under the guise of carrying out promos, which was nothing but unbridled capitalistic war to outwit each other, recklessly rolled out all manner of ridiculous promos, and bogus prizes.

    It is on record that while this long season of anomie reigned, no week would pass by without one new promo or the other being unleashed by a GSM provider, ostensibly to overthrow the other competitors. Thus, the GSM companies simply

    relegated efficient service delivery and subscriber satisfaction to the background, and in a naturally expected bourgeois class-imposed scramble, some Nigerians too, unmindful of the huge fortune being made by these GSM companies via this conduit, also latched on to the so-called promos, seeing them as free-for-all. Most of them spent thousands of naira buying loads of recharge cards in time past with nothing to show for it. Had it stopped at just the problem of terrible over-congestion of the networks and continuous dropped calls perhaps it would have been a lot easier to explain. It got to a stage when the GSM companies were promising subscribers amazing prizes like winning an airplane for recharging up to N3000, or a huge luxurious bus to start a dream transport business or winning one billion naira.

    At this point, the scramble to win the so-called star prize simply skyrocketed. While the GSM provider smiled to the bank, the already

    terrible network congestion tightened, confidence of subscribers in the sector was further imperilled and after so much pressure. Close to six months of this reign of “GSM Calls go-slow” that was mindlessly imposed by the Telecoms companies, Nigerians suffered one unsavoury fate or the other, only by reason of the fact that they could not make calls out when caught in very terrible situations, and as at that time the NCC was nowhere to be found. Where then does one situate all of these losses, if not at the doorstep of the NCC? The NCC like every other Government Agency is not supposed to avail itself of a deep slumber akin to the type the biblical Jonah in that Ship on the way to Tarshish, while companies under their superintendence go on frolics of their own. A chronicle of the plenitude of misdemeanours of these GSM companies will leave one amazed. For instance, many a time, Nigerians have had huge amount of credit vanish from their phones after

    making just a short call

    without a refund from their GSM provider. Countless times too, people are simply cajoled to switch from one package to another, usually offering all manner of goodies, only to do so and see that all of one’s credit is gone. That is not to also leave out the unending flow of very many unnecessary promo SMS asking consumers to get one song or the other that usually adds no significant value to the subscriber. Also, the idea whereby some of the self-acclaimed giants amongst the GSM companies periodically thump their chest claiming to have hit a certain subscriber base usually above 10 million, whereas the necessary infrastructure is totally lacking, is just another way of short-changing subscribers. Much as Nigerians appreciate the NCC ban, it may turn out to be nothing but removing a tiny speck out of a log-filled eyes, if these other menace catalogued about are not addressed. Now is therefore the time for the NCC to indeed regulate these GSM companies

    and checkmate their unconscionable recklessness which transcends the congestion on their networks, but rather streams into their other roaming activities.

     

    • Olusola Adegbite, Esq.

    Block 107A, Mayo-Belma Close,

    PW Estate, Kubwa, Abuja.