Ben Uzor Jr
India's Bharti Airtel has declared that operators in
Nigeria's N3.9 trillion telecommunications industry is losing considerable
revenues following the spate of insecurity and the recent floods that affected
many parts of the country. In 2010, Pyramid Research said that telecoms
companies - MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Etisalat and CDMAs earned N1.3 trillion
($8.6 billion) in revenue from billing Nigerians for using their services. The
research firm predicted that revenues would hit N1.7 trillion ($11 billion) by
2013. But with the rising incidence of attacks on telecoms installations and
the recent floods, industry analysts told Benuzorreports that mobile
network operators might not attain this target next year.
The current situation and
its attendant impact on quality of service levels, according to Airtel
has led to heightened operational burden and spiraling cost as many networks
struggle to resuscitate affected facilities, "Operators are losing
significant revenues across the country due the bombing of telecoms equipments.
It is impacting on quality of services. "But more importantly, it is
affecting our revenue because of the investment demands required to revive
these facilities", Osondu Nwokoro, director, regulatory affairs, Airtel
Nigeria, said at a media briefing in Lagos. "53 of our telecoms sites were
directly affected during the bomb attacks in the northern east part of Nigeria.
"But 193 sites were impacted in all as huge outages
were sustained. The way the network architecture is designed, we have some
telecoms masts that are hubs and control other base stations. So, if a hub is
destroyed then other masts that depend on the hub will be affected. However,
Airtel has managed to resuscitate 112 out of the 193 sites but at great costs.
"The rising rate of bomb attacks, according to Nwokoro has stalled network
restoration and rollout as field operations personnel refuse to work in areas
prone to violence. Speaking in the same vein, Airtel's chief technical officer,
Awadhesh Kumar Kalia said, "24hr preventive maintenance is no more
possible on account of insecurity, curfews, harassment of field personnel by
armed groups and law enforcement agencies."
Kalia said the floods affected 41 telecoms sites in all.
"Submerged fibre locations include: Lokoja-Dangana; Lokoja-Okene;
Asaba-Ugheli; Ugheli-Patani; Patani-Elele". This, the Airtel CTO added has
contributed significantly to poor quality of service rendered by telecoms
operators nationwide. In view of this, telcos, according to Kalia have been
compelled by circumstance to share infrastructure and equipment. Nwokoro
however called for expanded collaboration between government and the industry
to tackle the national security problem specifically as it affects the
industry. "There is also need for a national alert declaration in the face
of unfolding emergency brought on by flooding. This would make the restorations
of telecoms facilities an important focus area for the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA). It is also aimed at protecting telecoms
infrastructure by averting further loss of capabilities and services which are
indeed critical for disaster mitigation", the Airtel director explained.
Only recently, MTN said efforts to put its network in
prime position to deliver best-in-class telecommunications services is been
stalled by the spate of insecurity and the unprecedented flooding in many parts
of the country. MTN appealed to its 45 million telecoms subscribers’ to bear
with the poor quality of service rendered on its network since the commencement
of its $1.3 billion modernisation and optimisation exercise. "We regret,
however, that the pace of work has been considerably challenged by the spate of
insecurity coupled with the unprecedented flooding being experienced in many
parts of the country”, said Wale Goodluck MTN’s corporate services executive.
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