The liberalization of telecommunications industry in the country has no doubt brought about unimaginable growth in the country’s economy. Aside huge foreign direct investment the country has received through activities in the sector, the sector is today fueling growth in various other sectors, such as banking, where working hours are no longer impediment to an account holder having access to his or her bank account, provided the account holder has Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card. These ATMs located at bank premises and other strategic locations are powered through a communications link provided by telecommunications operators. More so, the industry has enhanced efficiency in transportation, manufacturing, education as well as health with words such as telemedicine.
Today, telecommunication sector is the most vibrant of all other sectors in the economy, the sector outside providing the much needed communications services has assisted in the upspring of other service delivery which has created employment opportunities for Nigerian. For instance, the telecommunications masts we see around are made up of different components such as steel structure, microwave equipment among others. The steel structure are not imported, they are constructed and erected by Nigerians. More so, we often times see on our television screen adverts that require people either to subscriber to value added services or vote as well as participate in a quiz by sending short message service to short code such as 37894, 56789 among others. These services are not mostly provided by telecommunications operators, but by independent content providers who earn their living through such service.
There are many other ancillary services being provided to telecom operators that assist them in providing service by Nigerian companies. We are not talking about several thousands of Nigerians who are earning their livelihood through the sale of telecom consumables such as recharge cards, Sim and mobile phone accessories.
Last year Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, puts foreign direct investment in the telecom sector at $12 billion. This is outside investment made by Nigerians in the sector. Investment in telecommunications in not a one-off thing, as technology changes which makes some equipment obsolete so will the operator continue to upgrade which is also part of investment. Presently, not every nooks and cranes of the country have been covered with telecommunications services which means that more investment is required to provide coverage to these areas. Just recently, Zain group said it plans an investment of $12 billion on network expansion in its African operation of which Nigeria is part of it. Glo 1 undersea cable landed last year, MainOne is expected to land this year as well as West African Cable System another submarine project being pioneered by a consortium led by MTN is also bid to land in the country. These and many more are ongoing investment in the country that should be allowed to deliver its benefits to Nigerians.
If all the expansion projects being embarked upon by telecom operators are prevented through unfriendly government policies the resultant effect will be that most communities will be cut off in the coverage of telecom services that will retard growth and development in the sector which is known today as the fastest in Africa.
Obstacle to Growth
Telecommunications operators over the past five years have been battling with enormous challenges in their effort to provide quality of service to their subscribers, such challenges include theft of generators as well as other equipment installed at base stations. The problem of theft of diesel and generators have continued unabated that operators are losing an average of three generators everyday, this prompted operators into considering options such as managed services where management of base stations are outsourced to other companies.
Other challenges are activities of miscreants who make stupendous financial demand on operators for citing base station in their area and when refueling their diesel tanks. The problem of multiple taxation by different government agencies have continued, operators are subjected into payment of unapproved taxes by both state and local governments who believed that telecommunications business is a goldmine from where they can beef up their internally generated revenue.
In all of these, the most worrisome is the latest ultimatum given to operators by National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency.
The agency gave operators in the country up to May 24 this year to submit comprehensive audit reports of their masts and base stations located in all corners of the country.
 Dr Ngeri Benebo, director-general of Nesrea, said that because of the proliferation and indiscriminate installation of masts and base stations, compiling inventory and audit reports of mobile phone operators in the country has become very necessary in order for her Agency to be able to keep track of development in the telecom industry and ensure strict adherence to the laws guiding masts and base stations installation.
 Dr. Benebo gave the ultimatum during a consultative meeting with the telecommunication operators.
"In this country, telecommunication operators have not deemed it necessary to adhere strictly to relevant laws and regulations guiding the operation of the telecommunication industries. Regrettably, more than five months after the first meeting with telecom operators in the country during which the honourable minister of environment enjoined key stakeholders in the industry to apply precautionary principles in their operations our headquarters and zonal offices have continued to be besieged with public complaints regarding the proliferation and indiscriminate citing of masts and base stations with their attendant environmental safety and health implications on the general public", she said.
 While appreciating the immense contributions of the telecommunication industry to the growth of the nation’s economy, Benebo said that such contributions should not be allowed to impinge on the social and environmental wellbeing of the citizens, adding that her Agency must, at all time balance economic, social and environmental considerations in the quest for mobile telephony development.
"We are now set to play to the game by the rule. We owe Nigerians the duty to ensure a clean, healthy and safe environment. However, we owe the telecommunication operators coommittment and support to ensure a friendly and cordial regulations that govern operations".
The Nesrea boss said that the 3-month period was irreversible; adding that failure to comply within the stipulated timeframe would spell doom for any telecommunication operator.
It would be recalled that Dr. Benebo had last year expressed reservation over what she called indiscriminate erection of telecommunications mast in various communities in the country during a visit to Ernest Ndukwe, EVC in Abuja. She said operators should conduct Environmental Impact Assessment before installing their masts. According to her, EIA was necessary to ensure that the environment and human beings were not adversely affected by such installations.
She added that the agency had received complaint from some members of the public that such masts were within residential areas and urged the affected companies to take adequate measures to mitigate any negative impact.
The agency, she said will hold dialogue with stakeholders to educate them on the need to comply with the EIA requirement and that it will collaborate with NCC to address some of the environmental issues arising from the location of masts in residential areas. “The issue of location of masts has become a top priority for Nesrea because of the public outcry; we in the agency have decided that it should be a top issue to be discussed,” she said. It is the responsibility of the Nigerian government she noted to ensure that the environment is conducive for human habitation.
In response, Ndukwe dismissed speculations that emission radiation from base stations was injurious to the health of people living around them.
He added that it could not be to the best interest of the commission to allow industry operators endanger the lives of the Nigerian people in the process of carrying out their telecom business, noting that after all it is those people that will patronize the operators.
Ndukwe emphasized that for mobile technology to function effectively, operators must have base stations around the country, adding that what the commission has done was to set guidelines that must guide the erection of such towers and masts in order to create standard.
He pointed out that without base stations, there is no communications. Besides, some studies have shown that mainland Britian alone, has over 40,000 towers while Nigeria currently has about 20,000 base stations.
Ndukwe noted that, in the past, there had been all kinds of health concerns expressed about base stations especially those located in residential areas, and that those fears are baseless and all speculations. He explained that steel structure of a mast may look imposing and that it is only the small antenna at the top that has connection with radiation and that the output is very negligible compared to that of electric cable and television antenna.
In spite of these explanations one wonders what the agency is trying to achieve with the latest threat after the industry regulator has explained issues surrounding fears being expressed by people who are not well informed about the issue.
Industry watchers who spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek are suspicious that the agency may be nursing the intention to collect tax from operators but could not come out as such demand is not backed by legislation, but turn around to use health implications as a threat requiring operators to seek impact assessment for all their projects.
They said seeking impact assessment of project that is already known the world over as not having any known health implications and with international standard as well as in line with NCC guideline is worrisome.
Government need to call its agencies to order when they are implementing policies that are detrimental to the growth and development of the economy, as the one Nesrea is about to implement which is capable of deterring operators in their current effort to expand their network coverage.