The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, over the weekend expressed concern over the rate telecommunication facilities were being vandalized in the South-East.
It also identified multiple taxation as one of the major challenges affecting telecommunications services in the country.
The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta stated this at the on-going Enugu International Trade Fair, calling on state and local governments to desist from placing such hurdles on the way of telecom operators.
While noting that power supply was equally a critical factor in the provision of uninterrupted telecom services, he said that “more worrisome is the attitude and actions of state and local governments, who impose all kinds of taxes and levies, including regulations that restrict right of way for the service providers to deploy or expand services.”
He regretted that “even when the service providers are willing to make services available, we as members of government at various levels and communities, put bottlenecks on their ways.
“There are also reports that vandalization of telecom infrastructure is very high in the South-East. Therefore, this is another opportunity to call on the state, local governments and communities in the South-East to support the Commission by easing the right of way for provision of telecom infrastructure and to be vigilant over such infrastructure.”
Danbatta, however, assured that the new NCC leadership had instituted a task force to take a comprehensive overview of the factors militating against quality service.
On the issue of unsolicited messages, the NCC boss further disclosed that, “the Commission is almost set to launch a uniform code, which subscribers can press to stop the service provider from inundating them with unsolicited messages.
“We have also created a second level compliant platform, where subscribers whose problems are not resolved by the service provider could reach the NCC to resolve such issues.”
Earlier, the President of the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, ECCIMA, urged the NCN to do more, especially in having the courage to regulate operators in the sector “in doing what is right and protecting vulnerable customers of the various GSM network operating in the country.”
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