Telecom
Telcos Wax Worriedly over Heavy Taxes, Levies
Telecommunications operators in Nigeria now pay over 40 different taxes and levies to various agencies of governments at federal, state and local government levels.
These taxes, according to them, are slowing down their expansion drive across the country, while also limiting digital inclusion and mobile penetration, as the vicious cycle continues.
Speaking during the presentation of a report on, Tax and Enabling Business Environment in Telecoms sector, at an event in Lagos, operators said the multiplicity of taxes and levies in the industry has a direct negative impact on the affordability of telecommunications services.
They added that the matter may get worse for both operators and consumers, should the planned nine per cent Communications Service Tax (CST) currently undergoing scrutiny at the National Assembly eventually scaled through and become a law.
The operators charged the government to target individuals and businesses that are evading tax, rather than put the tax burden on the telcos alone.
According to them, the balance lies in a landscape where taxes are fair, harmonised, clear, and aligned with the objective of advancing connectivity.
The report noted that the multiplicity of taxes directly impacts the industry’s ability to innovate; improve mobile and data network quality, reduce prices, drive mobile penetration, and deploy infrastructure around the remotest parts of the country. It stressed that it also directly impacts the ability of telecoms operators to support nascent businesses and industries, further stunting economic growth.
“And when the number of taxes imposed continue to rise even further, as with the recent introduction of the Police Trust Fund Levy, Communications Service Tax, these costs are inevitably passed on to you, the consumer,” the report stated.
The report urged canvassed that the Taxes and Levies Act be revisited to keep retail prices optimal and ensure an enabling business environment.
Corroborating the report, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), said the issue of multiple taxes has been a recurrent decimal that needs Executive Order to address the situation.
According to him, the government is in the habit of imposing taxes that have no bearing with telecoms operations such as Parking tax, Effluent Discharge tax, Social Service levy, PAYE tax, Right of Way tax, Sewage tax, Environmental/Ecological tax, Hawking levy, Building Fitness levy, among many others.
Speaking on the implications of taxes on telecommunications, Adebayo said it would stifle economic growth. “Overtaxation has several consequences. Foremost, it necessarily limits Nigeria’s economic growth, because it directly limits telecoms operators’ expansion drive and thwarts sector investment and advancement.
“This then limits digital inclusion and mobile penetration. As some of these taxes are passed on to consumers, the vicious cycle continues, as mobile/data usage falls, the government tax net remains narrow and revenue targets are not met.”
Noting that telecoms need massive infrastructure to connect with individuals and businesses, he said: “Our major challenge stems from the activities of supposed land owners of infrastructure sites, states, and local governments. We have instances where state and local government authorities have physically invaded offices, locked up base stations, and employed other unwholesome tactics to enforce these taxes and levies.”
The report called for an urgent re-evaluation of Nigeria’s fiscal priorities fit for population explosion set to occur over the next two decades.
“The current fiscal landscape reflects an approach that emphasises short term unsustainable gain at the expense of long term sustainable growth. No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Governments do need money. How often, and from whom they take it, are difficult political issues; but we must ask the questions that lead us on a path to envisioning a better Nigeria for us all.
“We must designate telecoms assets as critical national infrastructure, to safeguard the lifeblood of our nation from disruptive actions with rising insecurity and terrorist activity, our intelligence and emergency forces,” the report stated.
Clydestone Ghana Plc has filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against MTN Ghana, MTN Group Limited and Mobile Money Fintech Limited, alleging unauthorized use of its intellectual property.
The company announced the court action at the Ghana Stock Exchange, confirming proceedings in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Ghana.
The case relates to work commissioned in 2007 that Clydestone alleges was later used without authorisation or compensation.
Clydestone said the claim involves proprietary intellectual property, confidential commercial information and operational methodology developed during the engagement. The company is seeking declarations, damages and equitable remedies.
In a statement, Clydestone said MTN Ghana engaged it in 2007 to develop a commercial and operational framework for a mobile money business.
“The work was developed and delivered by the company’s founder and Group CEO, Paul Jacquaye, and included a full mobile money ecosystem covering the commercial model, operational architecture, implementation methodology and business case.”
Clydestone said the work was commissioned on the understanding that a non-disclosure agreement and memorandum of understanding would be signed.
It alleges these agreements were not finalised despite repeated requests.
The company further alleges MTN Ghana later used its proprietary work and methodology without authorisation or compensation, including in MTN Mobile Money Ghana and other markets.
Clydestone said the alleged use has continued since the launch of MTN Mobile Money Ghana in 2009.
“The wrongful use of that work has been ongoing since 2009. What has changed is the availability of independently verifiable information that documents its scale and commercial significance,” the company said.
It cited the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 and MTN Ghana’s 2025 annual report as evidence of the platform’s scale.
According to Clydestone, the reports show approximately 19.3 million active users and annual revenue of about GHS 6.0 billion ($516m).
The company said it reviewed its records following these publications and concluded there were sufficient grounds to initiate legal proceedings.
It added that it has received no payment or acknowledgement for the work since December 2007, and that pre-action correspondence in 2026 received no substantive response.
“The Board of Directors has unanimously authorised the commencement of these proceedings,” the company said.
Jacquaye said: “This case is about accountability for commissioned intellectual property.
“When independent publications in 2025 and 2026 revealed the scale of the mobile money business, we reviewed all documentation relating to the original engagement and concluded these proceedings were necessary.”
MTN Group Limited, named as a defendant, had not commented at the time of publication.
In a development that underscores the fragile state of Nigeria’s telecommunications grid, an incident of infrastructure vandalism in Delta State has severely disrupted network connectivity, leaving thousands of subscribers stranded.
The breach, where a robber attacked the sites, occurred at an IHS-managed telecom node in the ASB region on July 8, 2026, immediately knocking 33 base stations offline across 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums.
The situation in the region escalated drastically by morning when a separate fibre-optic cable cut severed primary transmission lines. Because the compromised node serves as a critical fibre convergence point, the secondary fibre cut triggered a cascading failure.
This secondary disruption ballooned the number of dark sites from 33 to 103, temporarily paralysing digital communications, banking, and commerce in the affected communities.
Industry sources reveal that the financial and logistical toll of such incidents is becoming unsustainable for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Currently, network providers are utilising 20 per cent more spare parts than initially budgeted for the fiscal year.
This unpredictable depletion of technical reserves has stripped operators of their supply buffers, making inventory management and financial forecasting increasingly difficult for telecom executives.
Consequently, engineering teams have been forced to cannibalise materials originally designated for network expansion and new site rollouts just to perform emergency restorations on the damaged sites.
This diversion of resources significantly delays the rollout of new infrastructure, stifling the nation’s broader broadband penetration targets and stalling anticipated revenue generation for the telecom companies.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently noted an average of 1,744 weekly attacks on telecom infrastructure nationwide, including over 1,100 fibre cuts.
As operators endure protracted back-and-forth negotiations with insurance firms to cover these sudden hardware losses, stakeholders are intensifying calls for the strict enforcement of the Federal Government’s recent designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) to safeguard Quality of Service (QoS).
Viral rumors about a “Tesla Pi Phone” a new phone, being developed by Elon Musk, CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, are entirely fake.
AI Generated Tesla Pi Phone and Elon Musk
Instead, the tech giant said on Monday it has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy the constellation by 2028.
It said the system would provide voice, messaging, data and emergency services.
A quick fact-check revealed that Tesla Inc. has never manufactured, developed, or released a smartphone.
Videos and articles claiming a release (often priced between $150 and $800 with solar charging or satellite-only connections) rely on AI-generated concept art and recycled internet hoaxes dating back to 2021.
Musk has only mentioned a phone in hypothetical remarks, stating Tesla would build one only if major app stores completely blocked or censored essential apps like X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday however, his company said that “Amazon looks forward to delivering on the promise of D2D [direct-to-device] connectivity, including to the millions of people living, travelling and working in places beyond the reach of existing networks today,”
The filing is the first step from Amazon into satellite mobile connections, which has until now been dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Musk’s group has signed partnerships with existing operators such as T-Mobile US and the UK’s Virgin Media O2 to provide phone services for customers where their conventional networks do not reach.
Starlink operates across more than 150 countries, offering high-speed internet connections through its constellation of satellites.
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