Telecommunications subscribers in the country have continued to groan over poor quality of service being delivered by all the operators in spite of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the operators and some state governments to ease the deployment of infrastructure.
Telecommunications operators under the umbrella of Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has been championing a streamlined process of seeking approval for the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure required to increase capacity and improve quality of service.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek recalled that in view of the above that ALTON and Lagos State government signed the first MoU to this regard.
At the signing of MoU with Lagos, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON, said that the major problem of quality of service is deployment of infrastructure and that by the agreement the Association signed with Lagos State, the state has shown that development of telecommunications infrastructure assist in economic development.
“Lagos will experience the best quality of service in telecommunications service delivery in the country within the next 6 to 12 months. This will make Lagos will become a smart city.”
But over one year after, the situation has not changed, as telecom services are still characterized by dropped calls, congestion among others.
Deolu Ogunbanjo, president, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMMS), blamed the scenario on the industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
According to him,’ instead of mandating operators to focus on increasing capacity through deployment of infrastructure when they fail in the key performance indication (KPI) set by NCC, they prefer fine which does not improve quality of service.’
Ogunbanjo also frowned at the continued delay in the passage of the bill that seeks to make telecom infrastructure as a critical national infrastructure.
Engr. Lanre Ajayi, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said that the MoU that operators signed with some state governments are largely focused on reduction in cost of ‘right of way’ approval, and that there are other issues contributing to poor quality of service includes vandalization and multiple taxation.
“The results of these initiatives take time. It is about building capacity in terms of infrastructure deployment which does not happen weeks. More so, infraco initiative is also aimed at rolling out fibre network, once they start it will help operators improve service quality,” he said.