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Minister seeks increased telecoms infrastructure to curb poor service quality

By on October 10, 2014

The Minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson has decried the low level of telecoms infrastructure in the country, and enjoined operators to increase the number of installed infrastructure so as to address the issue of poor service quality.
Johnson, who gave the directive during a recent visit to Lagos, said: “There is a link between infrastructure and quality of service, but most people do not understand this. We do not have enough telecoms infrastructure in the country.”
She explained that the 25,000 base stations currently spread across the country are serving over 130 million subscribers and are not enough. The minister also noted that “the 100,000 km fibre laying for the same number subscribers is just not enough for a country like Nigeria with large subscription numbers.”
She said: “Since the infrastructure is not enough, we therefore need more of it and operators should not be discouraged from building additional infrastructure.”
Johnson however condemned the imposition of multiple taxes on telecommunication operators in the country by some state governments.
She commended telecoms operators for embracing outsourcing of their base station operations to experts, but urged them to quicken the rollout of more base stations and other telecoms infrastructure that will improve service quality across the country.
Last month, MTN signed an agreement with IHS Holding Limited, to outsource its telecoms towers otherwise known as base station, comprising up to 9,151.
The transaction is expected to reduce MTN Nigeria’s operating costs, drive network expansion and efficiencies.
It is expected that on completion of the transaction with MTN, IHS will be managing over 20,000 towers in Africa, and will build more. Expectedly, the increased telecoms infrastructure will address service quality, in line with the minister’s vision of service quality across networks.
Etisalat Nigeria, had before the announcement of MTN outsourced deal with HIS, announced the sale of 2,136 of its towers to IHS Holding Limited as part of a broader strategy to drive improvements in the quality of its network performance and to accelerate roll out of 2G & 3G coverage and new services to its customers. The transaction is also expected to close later this year.
Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Michael Ikpoki, said: “The separation of MTN Nigeria’s mobile network towers and the operation of the underlying towers business by IHS reflects a major part of our strategy to optimise network quality and technological assets towards creating value and driving innovation to meet our customers’ needs now and in the long term.”
To ensure nothing hinders the additional rollout of telecoms infrastructure in addressing service quality, Johnson said she has commenced discussions with some state governments with a view to addressing the issue of multiple taxes, which she noted, had become hindrances to fast rollout of telecoms infrastructure across the country.

 

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