THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently imposed a fine totaling N1.17 billion on four telecommunications operators (Telcos) in the country for failing to meet the minimum standard of quality of service set by the regulatory agency in March and April 2012. The action was long overdue.The incidence of poor quality GSM service in the country is not a matter of hearsay: it is a recurring daily encounter by GSM subscribers probably without exception. It is for that reason that the released combined scores by the Telcos based on the stated key performance indicators are hard to believe. In spite of the NCC position, it cannot be correct that the affected Telcos (MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat) missed the target of 98 per cent set for Call Setup Success Rate by just 0.93 percentage point or to announce that the GSM operators came within 0.22 percentage point of the target of 96 per cent set for Call Completion Rate. And it was a calculated insult to the intelligence of Nigerian subscribers for the NCC to contrive for the operators a Drop Call Rate of 1.38 per cent, an indication of excellent performance as the score is lower than the target of 2 per cent.As regards the fine itself, with 95 million active GSM lines, the total amount averaged 20 kobo per line per day during the two months. The penalty is therefore inconsequential in comparison with the glaring rip-off routinely suffered by subscribers through various forms of substandard service. Consequently, the NCC should carry out with due seriousness its renewed mission of ensuring quality GSM services in the country. Ordinarily, fines should be punitive to serve as a disincentive against continued contravention of achievable industry standards.Surprisingly, the paltry fine elicited a joint statement in which the Telcos, as has become customary, were quick to repeat that over N1 trillion has been invested on the four networks over the last 10 years. However, they characteristically did not disclose that after their initial investments, the bulk of the subsequent investments had come from what was generated in the country. It was also not revealed that profits raked in by the networks over the period surpassed their gross investments to date. It was not stated that takings by Telcos from the country were utilised to refinance bankrupt parent companies in their countries of origin and to set up subsidiary networks in other countries as well.In the joint statement, the Telcos said, 'The main factor affecting quality of service is the absence of a reliable source of power.' The point should be made that the telecommunications industry in Nigeria has achieved the status of a leading economic sector that should give rise to forward and backward linkage activities to help quicken national development effort. As the telecommunications sector began to develop firm roots, the power sector was in 2005 thrown open to the private sector. Sadly, the Telcos in their statement gave no indication that part of their takings would be deployed to build individually or jointly-owned independent power plants to help break the bottleneck posed by the power sector to their operations and the economy at large.We now know that the four Telcos will in 2012 invest over N400 billion to further build and enhance their networks but that 'such investments do not yield the requisite improvement in service quality until well after 12 months.' Thus the Telcos have served clear notice to continue to fleece subscribers during the period. Accordingly, the NCC should immediately scale up its fines on poor quality service to match any abnormal takings to be exacted by Telcos throughout the period through subsisting poor network quality. The accruals from such fines should be channelled into a dedicated account for the construction and running of independent power plant(s) that should be put under the control of a special purpose consortium.Now, the time has come for the NCC to prevent wasteful duplication of telecommunications infrastructure. The Telcos should be encouraged (or forced by regulation) to share base stations. That development would reduce their combined outlay on generators, diesel and security protection pending improved national power supply. Also the attendant reduction in the number of telecommunications masts would not only lower the risks posed to the populace and the environment by collapsing structures and elevated radiation poisoning, but also cut to the minimum possible disputes between the Telcos and the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency.Other areas that deserve urgent NCC attention include requiring Telcos to deploy appropriate technology for permanently demobilising stolen mobile phones in order to checkmate rampant cell phone thefts in the country. Secondly, the GSM operators should desist from luring gullible subscribers with sales promotion schemes that are essentially scams. Thirdly, there is no better evidence than the contents of sales promotion exercises to show that the present GSM tariff is cushy. The NCC should slash the call rates to affordable levels.Above all, the GSM operators played up their investments as if they did a favour to the country, whereas the bulk of the investments is owed to long-suffering Nigerian subscribers. Even then, the reports are rife that Nigerian employees are not trained in adequate numbers to man the operations. Nonetheless, it is doubtful, as foreign investors are wont to do, that the GSM operators are in a hurry to lock up their telephone exchanges and leave in a huff. Perhaps next to the petroleum industry, the telecommunications sector is the most prosperous. Eleven years after the first GSM licences were issued, the time is overdue to float all the Telcos on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with at least 49 per cent of their equity reserved for Nigerians.
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