Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said that both operators and customers are weary of incessant threats by government agencies to sanction telecom operators in the country over poor quality provisioning.
Lanre Ajayi, chairman of ATCON while fielding questions from journalists in Lagos during the mini-launch of broadband campaign for the nation, advocated a shift from sanctions and articulated various ways of tackling the woes before the operators.
Ajayi who was speaking against the backdrop of the report that the Federal Ministry of Environment will soon commence imposition of sanctions on telecom operators that violated Environmental Impact Assessment regulations in the country, said that the nation plans towards widening its broadband service, there was need to correct erroneous feelings among some members of the public that the industry is a fat cow for everybody to milk from.
Mr Ben Goong, deputy director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Environment, had in a statement, penultimate week and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria stated that agreement to sanction telecom operators was reached after the Supervising Minister of the ministry, Mr Darius Ishaku, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mrs Omobola Johnson, minister of Communications Technology.
“Under the agreement, all telecom operators in violation of the EIA regulation will now pay the specified non-compliance and administrative fees to the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency.
“Similarly, all base stations that predate the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication and Broadcast facilities regulations No. 11 of 2011, which are violation of the Nigerian Communication Commission’s Guidelines should be referred to the NCC for appropriate remediation,” it said.
The statement said all base station sites that were in existence prior to the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication and Broadcast Facilities Regulations No. 11 of 2011 that are in compliance with NCCs would be re-opened.
It said that base stations should be re-opened provided they were not in violation of the EIA Act.
The agreement also provides for the setting up of an inter-ministerial standing committee comprising the two ministries, NESREA, NCC, and charged with the responsibility of handling issues arising from the location of Telecom base stations and related matters in the country.
It said that NESREA was mandated to communicate to NCC the total number of sealed telecom base stations that violated the EIA Act, and copy same to the federal ministries of environment and communications technology.
The statement further said that the two ministers expressed optimism that the MoU will lead to rapid improvement in the development of telecommunication infrastructure in the country.
It said that the MoU will also proffer lasting solutions to the lingering regulation conflict between the two ministries and their agencies.
“The two ministers also believe that the agreement will lead to improved quality delivery to telecom consumers,” it added.
However, Ajayi said that there must be uncompromising agreement by relevant government agencies turn a new leaf as regards regulations in the industry.
“Is quality of service without sanctions possible? In fact, which one do Nigerians prefer? I want to make it clear that both the operators and the public prefer having quality service to sanctions.
“Even now we are working tirelessly to achieve affordable and available broadband services for all, there is need that concerned Government Agencies review their operational tactics; although sanction is one of the tools to use, but it should not be over used,” the ATCON chairman said.