Alton condemns closure of Nigerian cell sites

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) has condemned the manner in which cell sites of telecoms operators are being closed by the Nigerian government of some South and South-East states of the country, as well as some government agencies who impose indiscriminate levies and charges on telecoms operations and installations within their localities.

The association stated that it has become common-place for the Nigerian government to arbitrarily charge operators millions of naira without any basis or statistics to back up their demands.

A statement by the association noted that governments in these two regions impose their random charges without regard for the fact that operators have already paid all statutory levies and charges to the relevant federal and state ministries, departments and authorities (MDAs) when due.

“(Alton) is concerned at the extent to which these state governments go about closing network cell sites in their states, as these actions have often resulted in network failures,” the statement said.

“The forceful closure of network cell sites on the excuse of non-payment of arbitrarily imposed fines and levies always cause hardship to the general public as seamless services are interrupted and customers’ network experience is depreciated,” the organisation added.

Alton noted that this trend, which has now become a daily occurrence, negatively impact the rollout projects and obligations of operators and further result in multiple taxation since operators are forced to pay the same fees for one equipment to two different bodies existing within the same government establishment.

The association has, however, called on the government of these states to protect telecom companies operating in their states by allowing them to continue their business of delivering telecoms services and also stop the illegal collection of levies.

By Okoro Chinedu