Refuting assertions that promotions and lotteries are responsible for the dismal quality of services offered by Nigerian telecoms companies, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body of the nation’s telecoms operators, has said the two cannot be blamed exclusively as floods and attacks are also to be faulted.
ALTON’s president Gbenga Adebayo explained that natural and man-made disasters, rather than promos and lotteries, are responsible for the poor quality of services.
Earlier this week, Nigeria’s telecommunications industry regulator, the National Communication Commission (NCC), placed an indefinite ban on all promotions and lotteries by telecoms companies in Nigeria. According to the commission, the current congestion on the various networks is attributable to the incessant promos and lotteries that increase traffic, which is larger than the capacity of the telecoms companies.
According to him, flood in some southern parts of the country, and incessant attacks on the facilities of telecoms companies that escalated in September. This double blow in addition to other incidences led to acute disruptions in telecoms services in the areas primarily affected and by extension other parts of the country.
“The impact of the attacks had since limited the ability of millions of Nigerian subscribers to access telecommunications services, because the incidents affected over 250 telecoms sites that lost connection,” Adebayo said.
As a result of the flood, Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in affected areas were shut down.
“Other than disruption to services, our members have lost equipment worth several billions of naira to the flood disaster across the country, as over additional 300 BTS sites were affected by the flood,” Adebayo said.
While calling on the Nigerian government to protect telecoms facilities in Nigeria, he said telecoms infrastructures in the nation are the springboard to ICT revolution in Nigeria, hence they are essential for socio-economic advancement.
