For Nigeria, year 2016 marks a decade plus five years of what has become the most successful telecom revolution in Africa; and, the country’s own most outstanding achievement in the last 15 years. Of course, the subscriber figures have kept rising and by that standard alone the Nigerian telecom sector remains the acclaimed fastest growing market in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world.
From a miserable 400,000 in 2001, subscriptions have grown to over 148 million active lines, with 88 million of these mobile lines being used to access Internet services till date. The growth has also led to a significant increase in teledensity, to over 104 per cent, as listed by the telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), from less than one per cent in the last 15 years of telecoms liberalisation.
But the unfortunate scenario is that amidst this growth, the subscribers continue to groan under the pressure of poor quality of services dished out to them by the telcos. Incidentally, what was adopted as a partial solution to the problem of poor quality of service in the mode of Mobile Number Portability, which allows subscribers move from one service provider with perceived poor service to another while maintaining same number, has failed to make any impact. And the reason is not far-fetched: none of the four GSM operators is insulated from the problems behind poor quality of service in the country, thus, they all have problems even if in various degrees; they all face same challenges.
But should the service providers be blamed? Obviously, the fault is not entirely theirs; a faulty system that makes the operating environment unfriendly also takes the blame. For years now, the operators have been lamenting bitterly the challenges of obtaining Right of Way to deploy infrastructure; the vexed issue of multiple taxation, the unchecked rising cases of vandalism guaranteed by insecurity; the list of problems which the government has failed to deal with are legion. Perhaps most monumental is the near absence of electricity from the public grid. Actually, the GSM operators have become power companies of sorts – just so they can run their businesses, no thanks to a country that runs on generators. And years upon years, nothing seems to have changed.
Destruction of telecom equipment has become regular occurrence as all telecom operators in Nigeria have stories to tell in this particular regard and in most cases, base stations are prime target. But not only that, multiple regulation and taxation are causing great setback for the industry. It is still the norm that before an operator could set up a cell site, it has to secure approvals from various government agencies and departments under the Federal Government, State Government and Local Government, each of these approvals has fees attached which the operators must pay before taking any action on the site.
Incidentally, all the three tiers of government want to regulate the telecommunications industry, which is compounding the problem for the operators. Heavy taxes imposed on telecom companies at the federal, state and local government levels have placed major obstacles, which slow down network expansion thereby compromising quality of service.
One of the operators also recently attributed the poor service by service providers to incessant breakdown of base stations as a result of power failure orchestrated by theft of components, damage or failure of optic fibre as a result of construction works in every part of the country.
But that was not all; the operator also had to admit that they have not enough capacity to carry all the calls being initiated at the same time in the country. “Calls are increasing every day and the base stations are not enough for the increasing calls. So we need more base stations,” one operator said.
Of course, that the problem of poor service has lingered for years and has become part of the industry does not mean that there is no solution; rather, the right solutions have not been explored. The challenges are quite clear and that should point to the right solution; but those who are supposed to take the right steps seem to be looking the other way.
To achieve quality service in 2016, all the arms of government in the country must see telecom beyond revenue generation. Telecommunications is a tool for national development and its real impacts can only be felt when the service providers render quality service to the people optimally. The idea that each arm of government must generate revenue from the industry is defeating this purpose and must be stopped.
Besides taking immediate steps to check the problems highlighted earlier, the Federal Government and most especially the National Assembly must as a matter of urgent National Interest pass the bill seeking to declare telecom Infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure into law to ensure protection of telecom installations across the country against vandalism.
While the service providers have over the years raised their investments in building capacity, the increasing subscriber base means that they must not relent on that, they must continue to invest in capacity expansion to meet the growing subscriptions on their networks.
On top of all these challenges and potentials in a market still crying for investment and telecommunications services modern as they come, is the very key role of the regulator: as the umpire, the NCC has, as it has had and will always have, the special calling to be the shining light in Nigeria and Africa in general, as the agency that takes a people from nothing to the Promised Land of telecommunications.
It behoves the Commission therefore to see its role as the guiding hand that encourages and nurtures those it regulates to remain in business, to grow in their business and to invest more in the country. For, indeed, this is one sure way to ensure the Nigerian telecom industry remains on the upward swing in growth, and thus quality of service is sure to improve.
May 2016 see a new order in the industry.