Operators in the telecommunications space of the country’s economy have not had peace of mind in the last six years in the process of service delivery as they are confronted with several challenges. Unfortunately, most of the challenges have little or no relationship with the process of service delivery. Operators are faced with security issues at base stations, unfriendly host communities, vandalization among others.
In view of all these that operators took measures to address some of the issues which are distracting them from their main business of service delivery. Among some of the initiatives are adoption of collocation, and outsourcing of base stations to infrastructure providers. 
As these initiatives were gradually addressing the known problem that other challenges began raising their head, and they are multiple regulation and taxation.
In a federal system there are issues reserved for either federal or state to legislate on and the ones both have power to regulate. In the case of telecommunications, it is the federal that has exclusive right to regulate the industry which led it into establishing a Commission in the name of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) backed with an act to effectively perform that function.
However, events in the recent past suggest that other federal government agencies as well as states are now making effort to usurp NCC’s function in the telecommunications industry which is unknown to the country’s law.
It has become a common practice for any government agency be it federal or state to solicits for one levy or the other from operators while some seek that operators secure approval from them which comes with a fee before they can build infrastructure.
It is not telecommunications operators that are lamenting over multiple taxation, operators in the manufacturing sector have continued to call for a lasting solution to the problem of multiple taxation in the country. According to them, if the problem is not addressed, business will continue to suffer,
With the challenges of poor infrastructure which is killing business in one hand and the headache of multiple taxation have been identified as another major threat to manufacturers and investors.
Speaking on the implication of multiple taxation, Otunba Femi Deru, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that as government empowered Local Government to enact law that will create a situation were they will generate revenue, those laws as vehicle license, radio, television among others as law that had affected business negatively, adding that these taxes are becoming rampant and hindrance to business development in the country.
Dr. Emmanuel Ekuem, immediate past president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (Atcon) called on the government to discourage multiple taxation which is currently the bane of telecom operators in the country.
He said a situation in which operators in the telecoms industry were seen as cash cows should be a thing of the past.
He reasoned that government in the land should note that telecoms business attracts operational cost and that when the number of taxes paid by the operators increase just because all tiers of government want their various shares of the “cake,” it engenders less profits for the operators and compromise quality of service.
Mr. Ayodele Adigun, President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, said that multiple taxation in Nigeria militated against standard taxation practice, which is unhealthy for economic development.
He blamed the activities of quacks in the system for this situation and also described the practice as an evil one, noting that the institute was all out to combat this trend.
According to him, CITN was championing professional taxation practice in the country and also organising an awareness campaign to sensitize the public on the need to voluntary pay approved taxes.
He added that multiple tax and poor infrastructure had also made the environment extremely inclement and uncompetitive for locally made goods against those from other nations.
This situation has got to an alarming rate that operators took the issue to Labaran Maku, Minister of State for Information and Communications, where a representative of Zain, Tobe Okigbo, expressed sadness over the multiple taxation and harsh treatment meted to them by the local government and state officials.
He further maintained that about 14 of the company’s base stations were shut in Rivers State over taxes.
Responding to the concerns raised by operators, the minister said that taxes would not be withdrawn emphasizing the need to pay tax for the government to be able to provide the enabling environment that will enhance the growth of the telecom sector. “Tax must be paid. The issues of quality of service and number portability have been the priority of the Federal Government”, he said.
"Under my own leadership, am not here to reinvent the wheel. I am here to sustain the good work being done and improve on it by offering very, very transparent, honest and committed leadership that will enable us, the regulators, government, Telecommunication companies and other stakeholders to work as a team and as a family. Whatever you do must translate to quality and add value to the Nigerian society and the end users in the street", he added.
It is unfortunate that officials from government quarters seem not to understand the issue of multiple but are looking at it as tax evasion. The issue is clear and does not need interpretation. Operators are not saying that they won’t pay tax to government and its relevant authorities but duplication of the same tax which they have already paid to government at the federal or state levels is inimical and put pressure on them. The question is, how can one reconcile a situation where a telecom operator whose services are controlled by federal government pays relevant taxes or levies to federal and state governments, and are also forced to pay similar taxes not approval levy by local governments.
As operators are seeking ways to address the issue of multiple taxation that another government agency, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (Nesrea) came out with Environmental Impact Assessment for base stations of telecom operators.
The agency has given operators deadline of August 21 this year to obtain this license which comes with a fee for their towers.
Dr. Ngeri Benebo, director general of the agency, who met with telecomm operators in Abuja, said that the incessant environmental degradation is not acceptable even with the benefits of telecommunication in Nigeria.
She charged the operators to come up with individual code of practice that will guide the overall operations of their companies to protect the environment.
She said in the days and months to come, defaulting telecommunication operators, those involved in illegal shipment of hazardous products and wastes, dealers in endangered species, and industries without effective plan for effluent discharges, will face the wrath of the law. This according to her is because the new institutional mechanism to curb environmental degradation is now geared to prevent such abuses.
And to underscore its strong resolve, the agency has already shut down two operating base stations of known telecommunication giants. It has also confiscated products made from endangered species within the Federal Capital City Territory, Abuja.
Thereafter, Mr. Sule Oyofo, spokesperson of the agency in a statement said "there is no more hiding place for perpetrators" in the quest to curb environmental abuses.
Oyofo said as a prelude, retreated the earlier three months ultimatum to telecommunication operators to align their operations according to the dictates of the law.
"I want the inventory and audit of your mast/base stations nationwide within three months," Mrs. Benebo had ordered at a recent consultative forum.
Mr. John Odey, Minister of Environment, had in September, last year, at an interactive session hosted by Nesrea and NCC sought the cooperation of the telecommunications operators to explore options towards safer and better environment-friendly telecommunications operations in the country.
He stated that the agency had at the forum informed the operators about the growing concerns and increasing public complaints their actions pose to human health, safety of property and the environment.
Oyofo, however, regretted that months after that meeting, nothing has changed as Nesrea headquarters, zonal and state offices have continued to be bombarded with public complaints regarding the proliferation and indiscriminate installation of masts and base stations with their attendant environmental, safety and health implications.
It is worthy to note that of all those complains Nesrea claimed it has received from members of the public most probably base on their ignorant of any health implications of such infrastructure, it has not taken the pain to verify if those living close to the base stations are suffering from any sickness associated with emissions from the base stations. But, rather it is interested in forcing operators to conduct and obtain impact assessment which NCC has given them before such base stations are built which amounts to double regulation.
NCC has a department that enforces standard in the manner operators build their infrastructure, instead of Nesrea liaising with that department of NCC to ensure that those issues it said are raised by the public; it is now enforcing its order on companies that are not under its regulatory jurisdiction.
The most worrisome is the way it is going about its enforcement. Last week federal government withdrew the license she gave MTN to build infrastructure in the country which is the fallout of Nesrea disagreement with the telecom operator over environment impact assessment.
In view of all these that stakeholders who spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek are calling for streamlining of regulations in the telecommunications industry as well as harmonization of relevant levies in order not to destroy and discourage investment in the sector which is expected to boom with the envisage abundance of bandwidth occasioned by the landing of undersea cables in the country.