Nigeria: GSM Operators Blame Government for Their Woes

April 18, 2002 – According to a report by All Africa Global Media, stakeholders on GSM operations in Nigeria have blamed the poor performance of their services on the federal government's failure to fulfil its own side of the bargain.

The operators, along with service providers, stated this yesterday in Abuja while testifying before an ad-hoc committee set up by the House of Representatives to probe into licensing compliance and efficiency of GSM operators in the country. It is also to examine the regulatory mechanisms applicable to the GSM sector with respect to the National Communications Commission (NCC).

Ogugua Chijioke, an Econet Wireless representative, said the N285 billion collected from operators by the government was not judiciously used to provide the necessary facilities. He listed numerous problems facing the operators, such as power failures and the fees charged to mount equipment on each base station. Other problems include the five percent tariff on the importation of equipment for private companies compared to the 100 percent tariff free status granted to all imported NITEL equipment. Chijioke added that the NCC also collects two percent of their annual profit.

According to the Econet official, his company has exceeded its target of 100,000 lines with additions of 130,000, bringing the total to 230,000 lines. He attributed the increase in the company's access charge to the above problems and the need to realise its investment within the stipulated time.

"Our fear is that if things should continue this way, we may not recoup our investment for the next 10 years while the duration of our contract is 15 years," he stressed.

He disclosed that Econet had employed more than 1,000 Nigerians in addition to specialised consultants. This he said, was aimed at reducing unemployment in the country.

In further hearings, the Minister of Finance is expected to answer questions on why NITEL was given a 100 percent waiver on import duties whereas other operators like Econet, MTN and Intercellular must pay a five per cent import waiver. In the same vein, the Minister of Communication is expected to answer to allegations by Econet and MTN that despite the payment of $285 million in fees for the provision of the necessary infrastructure nothing has been done yet.