NCC snubs one-stop permit proposal for telecoms infrastructure

Ben Uzor Jr

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has rejected the proposal by telecommunications operators in Nigeria for a one-stop permit centre for getting approval for building infrastructure across the country. This, according to operators would eliminate the bottlenecks inherent in getting requisite approvals from relevant government agencies for infrastructure build. Speaking during an Information and Communication Technology session during a conference organised by the Nigerian Bar Association in Lagos last week, Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of the NCC, said since telecoms focuses more on physical infrastructure, it could encroach on the statutory mandates of other agencies and government at all levels, the idea may be difficult to create.

The NCC boss was represented by Yetunde Akinloye, assistant director, legal and regulatory department of the commission, who made the commission’s position known after a proposal by the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) for a single-place approach for getting all the necessary permits for installation of telecoms towers and other infrastructures. This, according to ALTON is in an attempt to avoid duplication of charges coming from government agencies as well as address the regulatory issues for telecoms infrastructures. ALTON had earlier condemned the role played by the National Environmental Standards Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) in the telecoms sector in recent times, where the agency had shut down telecoms base stations.

This move had caused a face-off between it and the commission while denying telecoms subscribers access to good services due to network disruption often caused by NESREA’s action. Ijeoma Abazie, representative of ALTON said, “We have many instances where a government agency like NESREA, in a bid to enforce its regulation will go and seal off a telecoms site. We understand NESREA has it own rights and powers under the statute. We would have liked to see a situation where it focuses on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). We want one that enables the industry to do a one off EIA process that we can conclude in a maximum of three months comparable to the timelines that you see in Ghana where EIA takes 100 days, Uganda 120 days, for full and abridged EIA. That’s what we need to see in the Nigerian market.

“We had recommended as an industry that apart from abridging the time for site specific EIA, we also need to get to a situation where the minute an operators’ consultant submits audit for site, the operator should be given a conditional approval so that they can go ahead and begin to roll out. We are at a stage where we have too much quality of service challenges. We have seen the recent fines. Four GSM operators were fined a cumulative N1.17bn by the NCC. It is a commercial imperative for all operators to step up on the QoS that we offer the subscribers. Unlike a country like United Kingdom (UK) that has about 50, 000 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), Nigeria is nowhere near that figure. “Going forward, we will need to roll out as much as 15, 000 base stations across operators. We need all these bottlenecks to be removed”.

To address the issue of multiple agencies controlling telecoms equipment, according to her, ALTON has proposed that the telecoms regulator should be made to be a one-stop centre for getting all the permits for telecoms infrastructures. Explaining why the operators’ proposal for a one-stop permit centre is not feasible, Juwah said, “Although we acknowledge the challenges, operators are facing, we cannot however have a one-stop permit centre.” According to him, “Telecommunications infrastructures are often physical equipments whose impact, especially as physical structures, permeates as aspects of our life and there are agencies that regulate activities in those other sectors.

Section 135 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 also stipulates that licensees are mandated that necessary approvals are taken from different levels of government as may be required.” He, however, promised that the Commission would continue to collaborate with necessary agencies to ensure that other agencies’ activities do not affect telecoms expansion. “We cannot do away with collaboration because telecoms permeates every section of the society and by virtue of that, chances are that NCC will be dealing with many agencies and we are already doing that,” he said. Juwah added that on efforts are being made at ministerial levels to address areas of disagreement and inconsistencies between the technical environmental regulations for base stations by the NCC and the NESREA.

He said, “Between the NCC and NESREA, we have areas where we are now working on, especially as regards setback requirement for telecoms base stations. Hitherto, NCC recommends 5 miters setback for operators while in NESREA’s regulation, 10 metres are specified. “But in the ongoing discussions between the two agencies, we have agreed that for existing base stations the 5 metre setback will remain, while for new base station to be built 10 metres setback would application. Where operators find it difficult to achieve the 10 metre setback, operators must seek express permission of the government.”