ALTON Seeks Compensation for Telcos over BTS Destroyed by Boko Haram

Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has called on Federal Government to extend its compensation for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)  to telecommunications operators for the losses they incurred in the North-eastern part of the country through the activities of Boko Haram.

Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) said because as we have internally displaced people, so also we have internally displaced Telecom Operators. 

“It is sad that nobody is talking about the service providers that lost several millions of naira to destruction of their infrastructure.  The government should compensate the service providers as without that, may not want to go back and repair the damaged sites in the affected states.  Effort is being made to meet with relevant authorities for resolution.

He decried continuous vandalism and closure of operators’ base stations which has impacted negatively on quality of service delivery by operators.

“Unfortunately, our regulator has not taken enough responsibility of the problems in the industry, rather, allowing operators to face these problems alone,” he said.

“We discovered that despite the penalties and sanctions the issue of quality of service is still the same.  We operate one network in all networks.  If one operator is down it affect all because of the interconnection agreement between them.  There are some factors responsible for the poor quality of service and until government or the regulator do something about them, we shall continue to have issues in terms of quality of service.  The issue must be addressed by the government.  There is no reason why a state would charge for Right of Ways, as benefit derives by states from telecom services is higher than the Right of Way they charge,” he noted.

He further explained that cost of securing ‘right of way’ for network rollout accounts for 60 percent of the total cost outlay.

Adebayo noted that telecommunication is the most functional infrastructure that we have in the country today.

“It has become part of our citizenship in terms of access. We have been able to provide uninterrupted telecom access in the country in spite of the various challenges, as such we deserve praise. Telecommunications is driving success of other sectors of the economy such as banking among other. The time has come for Nigerians to appreciate telecom operators,” he stated.

ALTON however, call on the lawmaker to pass into law the National Critical Infrastructure bill.  The passage of the bill will now protect the telecom infrastructure and will put the problem to rest.  Our infrastructure must be protected.