The poor state of electricity supply in Nigeria seems to be proving a major impediment to the operation and growth of information and communications technologies in the country. Already, some ICT companies that started in the country some 17 years ago have gone under, due to what has been termed harsh business climate, resulting majorly from the erratic power supply in the country. ADEYEMI ADEPETUN in this report writes on the plight posed by this on the sector.TO many, all seems to be well with the Information Technology sector of the Nigerian economy, especially the bourgeoning telecommunications sector.But, contrary to the belief of many, including the government, the sector is groaning under serious power crises, which already had sent some ICT companies, which started in the country some 17 years ago parking.Indeed, the pangs of power supply crisis in the country have found expression in the expenditure profile of the nation's ICT sector, as most companies still plying their trade under the sector expends huge amount of money providing alternative power supply.These alternatives include generators, solar system, green technology, turbine gas among others.Reports, had it that the impact of the poor state of power in Nigeria, has forced some manufacturing companies in the country to relocate to neighbouring countries, where there seems to be respite in terms of power supply.Nigeria with about 160 million people, according to statistics from the National Population Commission, currently generates 4000 megawatts with a target of 6,600 megawatts by the end of 2012, according to the Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji.To analysts, this figure is abysmally rather too low for the country's increasing population, adding that this would act as major disincentives to investments in the country.Analysts argued that the potential need of the country is far more than 4000 megawatts. According to them, the generation should range between 30,000 and 40, 000 megawatts daily.To them, the solution to the ongoing energy crisis lies critically in the proper harnessing of Nigeria's abundant natural gas - the country is Africa's leading producer at some 2.5 billion cubic metres a day.They posited that, should the power challenge persist, this could mar Nigeria's Vision 20:2020 project and stall Nigeria's quest of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.Speaking at an ICT stakeholders meeting in Lagos, the President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, hinted that about 45 per cent of indigenous ICT businesses have folded up over the past few years due to the harsh operating environment in the country, especially the pangs of erratic power supply.Omo-Ettu, an engineer, said about 65 ICT companies were currently 'under lock and key.'He informed that, about 145 indigenous operators were licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission and registered by ATCON, but that 65 of the businesses had gone under due to what he called the 'vicissitudes of the business environment.'Omo-Ettu added that the remaining 80 licensed local operators were increasingly finding it difficult to compete with bigger players in the industry, adding that 'In the 17 years of our association's life, our membership rose and dwindled to 145 and 80 respectively. 65, an awesome 45 per cent, actually went under due to the vicissitudes of the business environment.'According to him, indigenous operators in the ICT sector fall under such generic groups as legal and telecoms consultants, equipment manufacturers and dealers, Internet Service Providers and enhanced services providers, among others.He noted that ISPs were the most affected sub-sector in the industry as they formed the bulk of the dead 65 ICT companies in the country.Indeed also, the president, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said power remains major problem for the operators, after the problems associated with damages to telecommunications infrastructure.Continuing, Adebayo said the cost of powering generators for telecoms site is huge.According to him, the only best palliative for service providers is to make public power available to service providers, adding that once this becomes available, 'we will expect special tariffs for telecoms operators in order to reduce our energy costs, which is currently one of the single highest OPEX for telecom operators.'Buttressing this claim, the President, Linkserve Group, one of the pioneer ISPs in the country, Mr. Chima Onyekwere, confirmed in an interview with The Guardian recently that, out of the numerous ISPs licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission over the years, less than 20 were currently in business.According to him, the major challenge has been the issue of power, which, he said need urgent attention, so as to move the economy forward.The Guardian had reported last week that the telecommunications firms in the country spent about N42.6 billion on power, security in 2011.According to The Guardian checks, the telecommunications sector spent over N39.1 billion on alternative power supply and about N3.5 billion on security of their facilities.Operators including MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Etisalat, Starcomms, Visafone among others in 2011 spent monthly between N3.6 billion to N4 billion on diesel to power their 20,000 generators used in servicing their Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the country.Also The Guardian learnt that on the average, service providers combined spend about N3.5 billion on security of their facilities including BTS, generators and their officials in the year that just went by.Furthermore, investigation revealed that operators power their BTS with about 25 million litres of diesel monthly.By so doing, with a litre of diesel price fluctuating between N140 to N145 per litre in 2011, operators spent between N3.63 billion to N4 billion on generators monthly, which amounts to about N39.1 billion yearly to power.Confirming the amount expend on alternative power supply, the Chief Executive Officer of MainOne cable company at an interview with The Guardian recently said the major challenge to telecommunications operations in the Nigeria remains the availability of power, stressing that, the company spend about N1 billion monthly on alternative power to keep the $240 million fibre optic cable running in the country.Speaking to The Guardian, the Chief Executive Officer, Mobitel, Johnson Salako, the major problem service providers face today are power and distribution to end users.Salako said: 'Power is the major constraint. Our service is dependent on the constant availability of stable power, and with the current electricity problem, we have to invest on generators for our operations, which impacts our profitability. We provide two generators for each base station, but sometimes, these fail at the same time. Just imagine how effective our service delivery would be if we only have steady power in the country. Government needs to create a better working environment for operators to be able to expand quickly.'Commenting further on the power challenge, Omo-Ettu, noted that, the hydra headed power shortage in the country emerges the major inhibiting factor to ICT and economic growth.Omo-Ettu, had suggested that to actually overcome the power crisis in Nigeria, there was need to ensure full liberalization of the power sector as was done in the telecommunications sector.According to him, producing electricity and feeding such into a national grid was not attractive to investment, especially if the buyer of the product was a government.He observed that the government had eventually identified the lapse and was presenting the creation of the Nigeria's Bulk Electricity Trading Company as the answer.He was however, quick to lament that such move had yet another illusion, which was bound to fail because it 'is merely establishing a bureaucracy rather than a company where true business model solution is required.'Omo-Ettu warned that selling the country's power generating plants to private investors was an open invitation to full scale corruption, adding that such should not be allowed under any circumstance.Corroborating operators expenses on alternative power supply generation, a senior official in one of the leading telecommunications firm and who prefer anonymity, said operators spend huge amount of billions yearly to power their BTS to ensure that there were no downtime to service delivery.Specifically, he said an average operator spends between N3 to N4 billion monthly on about 20 to 25 million litres of diesel, especially some of us with many Base Transceiver Stations, 'that is for power alone, you can imagine how much that translate to every year. Security is also a contending issue here. The miscreants; issue of land owners (Omo Onile); vandalisation and repairs of telecoms facilities, all these run into billions. If am to put figure, I will say this cost operators about N4 billion yearly.'Meanwhile, in an effort to cut its energy cost and reduce pollution, Airtel in November 2011, upgraded 250 diesel powered stations in Nigeria to Green-sites. An initiative designed to enable the company harness solar energy to operate its base stations.The deal is with frontline telecommunications Equipment manufacturers Ericsson and is expected to help the company cut down a considerable level of CO2 emissions and prevent network outages associated with inconsistent power supply.The company's Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Mr. Deepak Srivastava, who conducted journalists around the e-site, regretted that non-availability of regular grid power supply to sites across the country is responsible for over 70 per cent of down time, resulting in poor QoS.For him, the Green-Site would go a long way in addressing this critical challenge even as his company was also exploring other options including a partnership with the World Bank to address the nagging issue of power supply especially to the remote communities.
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