LAST week, Airtel Nigeria invited ICT
journalist for an urgent meeting designed to address critical issues in the
telecoms industry that bothers on the quality of service.
Director
of Regulatory Affairs and Special Projects, at Airtel, Mr. Osondu Nwokoro while
giving a blow by blow account of the difficulties that mobile operators
encounter in the pursuit of quality service delivery exposed one of the many
incidents in the industry that indicated that poor quality service may never be
a thing of the past.
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| EVC NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah |
Lekki
Concession Company,(LCC) the company that got the concession contract for the
construction and operation of the Lekki Toll Gate while performing its own
social function damaged the optic fibre cable of Airtel Nigerian Limited.
The
cable that was damaged carries traffic, which include voice and data from Lagos
through the Epe axis of Lagos State to Benin City in Edo State,Abuja and some
parts Northern Nigerian. The implication of that act is that subscribers of Airtel
as well as those of other network that may need to connect through that route
are unable to do that.
A
better understanding of that act is appreciated when compared to the blowing up
of the Third Mainland Bridge by dynamite. Business, commercial and social
activities between the Island and the Mainland is therefore severed. The result
is a huge loss of revenue.
According
to Osondu, Airtel was expected by LCC to pay a Right of Way fee, which
unfortunately had been paid by Airtel to the Lagos State Government before the
concession agreement that gave that part of Lagos State road to LCC was signed.
Airtel
refused and personnel send to effect repairs on the damaged cables meant armed
resistance from LCC.
Airtel,
Osondu said has parted with over N100 million to Lagos State Government for
Right of Way for the Lekki-Epe axis route for the laying of its fibre optic
cable.
This
probably was the first that a mobile operator came out to name another
organisation that is making it difficult for it to provide quality service to
its subscribers.
Airtel
is not the only operator that has had its services crippled by damage caused on
its telecoms facility in the country.
Mobile
Telephone Network(MTN) has suffered similar attack in several parts of the
country, with the northern part of the country being the place where they have
had the worst attack on its facilities by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
During
the presentation of an update report on its ongoing network modernisation and
optimization, the
company’s Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck and General Manager, Corporate
Communications, Mrs Funmi Omogbenigun, at a press conference in Lagos said that
there are consistent bombardments of its facilities in the north by the sect.
The
duo noted that beyond the attack from the Boko Haram sect, the current flooding
in some parts of the country have grossly affected its base station saying that
most of the base stations were submerged in water thereby forcing the company
to begin the construction of steel structure for its generating plants.
Before
the flood came telecoms infrastructure in the country have been under constant threat
from communities, local governments, state government and some government
agencies as well as some private
corporate organisations which have the permission of the government to carry
out constructions on areas where operators have their cables.
According
to Airtel, 85 of its installation sites fell victim to terror attack and
flooding thereby affecting operations of 234 sites across the regions where the
terror attacks and flooding occurred.
Also
32 sites were damaged by floods, affecting operations of 41 sites across the
region, and 53 installation sites were impacted by terror attacks, hitting
operations in 193 sites across the Northern part of Nigeria.
The
states affected are Adamawa, Gombe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Kaduna while
those worst hit by the terror attacks are the cities of Lokoja, Asaba, Ughelli-
Patani and Patani-Elele.
The
disasters resulted in spiralling costs of maintenance in affected locations to
thrice the normal rate, consequently leading to colossal financial losses and
dipping revenues.
Investigations
revealed that those who are involved in the bombing of base stations in the
north are experts who know which facilities in the base stations have direct
link to service disruption.
According
to a source, those involved in the act of bowing down base stations have
acquired satellite phones thereby making it difficult for security operatives
to track them when they are on the run even as they remain in contact after
disrupting telecoms services in the north.
It
would be recalled that in September, telecoms services were disrupted in Borno,
Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe and Kano states following the bombing of telecoms base
stations by suspected terrorists.
The
base stations, which belonged to MTN, Globacom, Airtel were affected in the
multiple attacks that jolted Borno, Bauchi, Yobe and Gombe States.
As
a result, the quality of service in the affected states suffered as
interconnection of telecoms infrastructure was severely limited.
The
bombing occurred few months after the Industry Working Group(IWG) set up by the
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) held its first public stakeholders to
address the challenges that the operators are facing in quality service
delivery.
It
was also few months before the bombing that the NCC fined four of the operators
for their inability to meet up with Keep Performance Indicators (KPI) that were
laid down for them by the regulator.
Key
focus of the IWG was the need to tackle problem of double taxation, which was
prevalent across the country as well as declaring telecoms infrastructure as
Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).
However, government was yet to look at the
challenges of the sector as reflected in the outcry of the operators and the
IWG event as its agency and some state government continued in their clampdown
of base stations across the nation.
The Chairman, Association of Licensed
Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo,in interview
described the clamped down base stations in the country as attempt to destroy
an industry that has contributed immensely to the growth of the Nigerian
economy.
Recently,
why calling for conceited efforts to protect and ensure further growth of the
industry, executive vice chairman of the NCC, Dr, Eugene Juwah said, “We have
seen how businesses have thrived with the availability of Information and
Communication Technology.
“We
are all full of admiration for the huge private sector investments that the industry
has witnessed, rising from about $500,000 in 2001 to over $25bn as at present,
and how it has transcended to the nation’s economic environment.
“By
this, we mean the contributions of telecoms to the economy by way of job
opportunities, human capacity development, improved business transactions with
associated cost savings and most importantly, its contribution to the nation’s
GDP profile where it has taken over from the financial sector.”
He
acknowledged that the challenges facing the industry were numerous and
enormous, with finance being a major one saying that protecting existing
infrastructure is a challenge yet to be adequately achieved.
Investigation
showed that despite the challenges, which may put quality of service a bit far
away from subscribers, some operators have bent on salvaging the situation.
For instance, MTN is about to
complete its network modernization
and swap-out exercise that will result to upgrading all electricity power
generating sets in its 10,000 base station to hybrid generating set.
About 900
sites in the Enugu and Port Harcourt region of the country have been swapped. The
network optimization exercise will affect over 4,000 base stations out of over
10, 000 across the country.
Also
Airtel Nigeria said it has taken decisive steps to mitigate the damage done to
its facilities by sealing facility-sharing agreements with other telecom
operators, engaging the services of highly efficient private security companies
to protect its facilities as well as collaborating with security agencies to
ensure maximum protection of telecom facilities across the country.
