The Nigerian communications Commission is seeking a court order to shut down the operations of GSM companies in Abuja over failure to pay the N1.17bn penalty recently imposed on them.
A source at the NCC, revealed on Tuesday, said the regulatory body planned to shut down the administrative offices of the affected network operators after securing the court order.
The NCC had recently penalised the four GSM companies operating in the country, to the tune of N1.17bn, for poor quality of service rendered to subscribers in March and April, 2012. Though MTN was requested to pay N360m; Airtel, N270m; Etisalat, N360m; and Globacom, N180m, they had failed to meet the May 25, 2012 deadline. As such, the affected operators have been incurring additional N2.5m per day as penalty for as long as the contravention persists.
For failure to pay the stipulated fine, however, the source said the NCC would get the court order and shut down the administrative offices of the errant operators.
He explained that it was not in the attitude of the NCC to shut down base stations in case of infraction on the part of any operator because such an action would have far-reaching implications on the subscribers.
When contacted, NCC Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said, “NCC is weighing all the options that are available to it as a regulator. A regulator is a regulator. NCC is a lawful organisation and we will always ensure that we are on the side of the law in anything we do. There are certain decisions that are strategic to us and we don’t like talking about them before taking actions.”
A senior official of one of the affected telcos, who pleaded anonymity, said the action, if taken, would affect the country’s over 99 million subscribers as well as the stability of the industry.
Reacting to the assertion that NCC does not shut down base stations, the source said shutting down the administrative offices would have a ripple effect on the smooth running of the base stations too.
“If NCC shuts down our offices in Abuja, who will direct the field offices maintaining our base stations?”, he asked.
“And if the diesel runs out of the generators serving the base stations engines, who will refill them?,” he asked again.
“The base stations will go down and it will affect the over 99 million subscribers, ” he said.
The official said the affected telecoms operators had hub sites in Abuja that could serve as many as 60 other base stations that could be spread across three or four states.
“If they go down, you can’t predict the adverse effect that could have on the subscribers. Therefore, the plan to shut down our offices is disruptive to service and disruptive to our business,” he said.
According to him, it is not as if operators don’t want to pay the fine but they want the NCC to reconsider the matter considering the fact that operators will always find it difficult to meet the Quality of Service Key Performance Indicators set by the NCC, owing to an unfriendly operating environment.
He further said, “We are not saying that we want a regulator that is always on our side. We are only asking for understanding from the regulator who should understand the challenges operators contend with every day.”
Speaking on the matter, the President, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said shutting down telcos’ operating offices could destabilise the industry.
“Stakeholders are meeting and there has been progress. Parties have exhibited good faith in the matter. However, considering what we have gone through in the past week, I do not expect anyone to take any step that will affect the stability of the industry, not the NCC, not the operators and not even our association. However, if it happens, we will make our position known to the public,” he said.
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NCC Plans To Shut MTN, Etisalat, Glo, Airtel over N1.7bn Fine:
NCC Plans To Shut MTN, Etisalat, Glo, Airtel over N1.7bn Fine:
NigerianEye
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
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I only hope NCC has provided alternatives.
ReplyDeleteNCC! Why shuting down the administrative offices?
ReplyDeleteNigerian need to ask the NCC, all the fine Imposed on this Service provider should be paid to who? NCC or Subscribers?
this is another way for corruption.
NCC should direct the service provider to pay inform of free call to their respective user/subscribers who suffer the poor service from the providers or we NCC pay the money to Nigerian people or paying it to Corrupted Director? food for taught for lovers of masses
The Law allows NCC to regulate the activities in the Telecom sector. But I, just like majority of Nigerians, do not support the payment of that fine to NCC. Was it the NCC that directly suffered for the poor services by the Providers? the answer is No. What about all the monies NCC has been collecting? Who do they account to? Ask me again. I adopt the position of Anonymous June 14, 2012 11:35 AM. Let the Service Providers compensate the subscribers by giving them free airtime that is commensurate to the loss suffered by their poor quality services. NCC should then make sure that the said free airtime is indeed commensurate. God help us. FRANK.
ReplyDeleteIf u don't have anything to say why not shut ur mouth. This is one problem with Nigerians; having not the ability to stand a short time pain that woulf bring a long time benefit. Would you like the NCC to fold their arms and watch these telecom operators be giving us poor quality service? They should be made to pay the painful fine so as to buckle up in their operations. As for me i don'y care if i stay without their network for a time being in as much as the NCC result would yield good result. Besides, there are some other telecoms companies not affected; one can switch over.
ReplyDeleteThanks my dear All
ReplyDeletethe fine Imposed on this Service
provider should be paid to who?
NCC or Subscribers?
Also hope NCC has provided
alternatives for subscribes