NAN-H-60
Telecom
By Constance Athekame
Abuja, Oct 5, 2017 (NAN) Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has urged the Federal Government to declare telecommunication infrastructure as critical to national development to prevent closure of operators’ sites.
Mr Gbolahan Awonuga, the Executive Secretary of ALTON made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the Federal Government should declare telecom infrastructure as critical national, security and economic infrastructure to prevent closure of sites by some agencies and boost the quality of service.
“We have done a lot of position papers to the presidency and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to enable the president make a pronouncement declaring telecom infrastructure as critical.
“Some government revenue agencies are going about shutting down telecom sites all in the name of generating revenue and this is impacting negatively on the quality of service that the network operators are giving out.
“Most times, we blame telecom operators for poor quality of services and once the president declares the infrastructure as critical national infrastructure it becomes unlawful for anybody to shut down sites.
“You could recall that during the NITEL period, there was a decree that whosoever tempers with NITEL infrastructure will go to jail and I think the same thing should apply to telecom infrastructure,’’ he said.
Awonuga also called on government to address the issue of multiple taxation by harmonising the right of way.
“Right of way is an issue in the sector as we are talking of broadband penetration without the cheap right of way this cannot be achieved,’’ he said.
The National Economic Council (NEC) recently approved a policy to harmonise the Right of Way charges payable by the telecommunications companies and related public utility infrastructures.
He said that the telecom sector had contributed a lot to the nation’s development, adding that with services from the sector it was easy to do a lot of transactions
“You can do mobile money; you can go to the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and withdraw money.
“With the services, you don’t need to travel far before you communicate to loved ones and friends and it is time saving as everybody now uses the telephone.’’
He said that telephone has become an integral part of every one as businesses are now done online. (NAN)
COA/AAB/GY
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Edited By Adeboye Ajayi/Grace Yussuf