By THERE are indications that the current National Broadband Plan of the federal government may turned out to be a failure if urgent steps are not taken to address the plight of Tier II telecoms operators who offer broadband services in the country.
According to the operators, who are sub-group members of the Assiocaition of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) declaration of 2017 as the Year of the Telecoms Consumer can be derailed by failure of operators to deliver on the expected quality of service particularly on data throughput.
They said that are alreadu experiencing weak investment as a result of deteriorating market condition urging the NCC to save the industry from imminent collapse.
The staleholders raise the alarm during a visit to the Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the NCC, in Abuja, asking the NCC, to take immediate and decisive steps to avert the looming threat of strangulation, which its members currently face.
They expressed worry that a looming systemic industry failure which will have catastrophic effect on the socio-economic development of the country is in the horizon.
They explained that the industry is finding it difficult to justify the required investment case for additional capital expenditure (capex) for network capacity expansion to improve quality of service to customers.
For instance, they said the network operating expenditure (opex) of operations have sky rocketed in the last 15 months by over 85 % with revenues remaining relatively flat.
The impact on their business, they observed was that they are currently struggling to meet obligations to their suppliers particularly network vendors, tower firms and servicing loan obligations adding that if unchecked, will result in the collapse of key players in the industry.
“This is because the domino effect of bankruptcy of any of the Tier I or Tier II Operators on the entire ecosystem particularly, banking, employment, corporate and SMEs constitutes a major threat to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the current administration.
Such bankruptcy and consequent collapse will also substantially lessen competition with its attendant deleterious impact on consumer choice and attainment of the Broadband objectives of the country,” they warned.
Among the telecoms executives that visist Danbatta were, Mr. Godfrey Efeurhobo, Managing Director, Smile Communications; David Venn, Managing Director, Spectranet; Mr. Osondu Nwokoro, Director Regulatory and External Affairs of ntel and Mr. Chuma Okoye, Chief Commercial Officer, Swift Networks.
Isaiah Erhiawarien
