Lagos Rakes from N15b Telecoms Operators Yearly

WHILE telecoms operators continue to battle with the challenges of the operating environment, the Lagos State Government is making a fortune from them raking a whopping sum of N15 billion yearly from them.

Gov Babatunde Fashola

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo disclosed that the amount is part of the money the Lagos State Governments collects for the erection of telecoms sites in the state.

At a press in Lagos, Adebayo told journalist that to erect a new base station, telecoms operators pay N3 million while 15 per cent of that amount is paid annually for the renewal.

He said that is the amount that the state collected from the about 5000 base stations in the state saying operators are daily faced with unending crisis of double taxation and illegal levies.

The ALTON boss who was briefing the media about the state of the industry noted that “we continue to face closures of functional sites by Agencies of Government, and we hereby draw the attention of the Federal Government and the general public to the continuous incessant and unlawful closure of telecommunication facility sites by some individuals, communities and indeed State authorities, in spite of the disasters that we face.”

According to him, across the country, governments and agencies with impunity employ extra-legal means to effect such closures without any regard whatsoever for the inconveniences on telecommunication subscribers and the socio-economic disruptions it presents gives great concern.

While expressing concern over the un-ending illegal closure of sites, he said that the illegal closures do not enable service recovery and maintenance activities on functional sites.

He said that ALTON is oppose to noting that the illegal closure of the sites is follows the objection of the affected Members of ALTON to pay disputed fees levied by the agencies of State or Local Governments in the name of Internally Generated Revenue IGR.

“The said unlawful taxes levied on our members runs into several hundreds of millions of Naira and our members are uncomfortable acceding to these demands as they are unlawful”, he said noting they contravene the provisions of the taxes and levies (Approved list for collection), under the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

The group frown at the extra-legal means to coerce its to submit to the payment of illegal taxes to be most unacceptable saying “we respectfully call on the Federal Government and the general public to intervene to save the situation.”

While commiserate with its subscribers who may have experienced some challenges in service availability in of late, Adebayo traced the cause to issues of man-made and natural disasters that befell some parts of the country in recent times.

“In September 2012, we had significant attacks and destruction of telecommunications Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and other infrastructure in some parts of Northern Nigeria. 

“The attacks, which occurred in the early hours of the 5th, 6th 7th and 8th of September 2012 and other incidences afterwards, resulted in severe service disruptions in the areas primarily affected and by extension other parts of the country”, he said. 

According to him, the incidents affected over 250 telecom sites that lost connection and many suffered significant damage beyond repairs saying the attacks have since limited the ability of millions of Nigerian subscribers to access telecommunications services.

He disclosed that the flood in some cases destroyed Telecom Transceiver sites (BTS) along its path leading to significant service disruption in the affected areas, with consequential impact on service availability in some other parts that were not affected by the flood. 

He assured subscribers that the operators would continue to do everything possible to provide uninterrupted good quality services across the national network.