Telcos Raise the Alarm on Imminent Communications Outages in Kogi, Abuja, Others 

•Demand NCC’s explanation over hike in Stalink’s internet tariff

Emma Okonji

Telecommunications operators under the aegis of the Association of Licenced Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have raised the alarm over the imminent communications outages in Kogi State, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and its environs, following closure of critical hubs belonging to Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) connected to several telecoms sites. 

According to ALTON, the Kogi State Utility Infrastructure Management and Compliance Agency (KUIMCA), yesterday, sealed six telecoms hubs connected to several telecoms sites in the state and its environs, demanding payment of huge sums of money before the hubs will be unsealed.

It said sealing of the telecoms hubs prohibited any telecoms personnel from entering the hubs. 

Giving implications of the sealing of the telecoms hubs, the Chairman of ALTON and spokesman of telecoms operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, warned that should the diesel in the generators that are powering the hubs run dry, the hubs would be completely shut down, leading to telecoms outages in the entire Kogi State, part of Abuja metropolis and its environs, since the hubs are connected to several telecoms sites. 

“Sealing of critical communications sites in Kogi will impact on FCT and neighbouring states. It will lead to communications outages in Kogi and neighbouring states, including the federal capital territory Abuja, within the next 24 hours when the hubs will run out of diesel,” Adebayo said. 

According to him, the emergency situation is at variance with the recently signed Critical National Infrastructure and Information (CNII) Gazette by President Bola  Tinubu. He therefore called on the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and all critical stakeholders to urgently intervene in the interest of national security. 

Adebayo further explained that the action of Kogi State Utility Infrastructure Management and Compliance Agency, has serious security and economic implications for the Nigerian economy. 

The InfraCos, whose hubs have been sealed, support several telecoms sites and all the connected telecoms sites will eventually go down, Adebayo said. 

“So if you have one site that is owned by one InfraCo, you may have 34 sites belonging to telecons operators that are connected to the site, including security installations. So if one hun is shut down, it will affect several telecons sites,” Adebayo further explained. 

According to him, Utility Agency is not a revenue generating agency and not a tax collecting agency, but a compliance agency and therefore has no business with collecting or demanding for money from telecoms operators.

Stressing that compliance enforcement is not even the obligation of the state, he said it is the obligation of the  telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the national and federal agencies and not state agencies, Adebayo further explained. 

He said ALTON had reached out to NCC to explain the situation on the ground in Kogi State, but insisted that the federal government must act immediately to save the country from poor telecom services delivery.

 Meanwhile, worried that Starlink, a satellite internet service provider, owned by billionaire businessman, Elon Musk, has increased its internet subscription fees by 97 per cent, from N35,000 to N75,000 for new customers, telecoms operators under ALTON, have demanded an explanation from the NCC why it should allow such hike.

According to the operators that spoke to THISDAY, the explanation from NCC became necessary, following the refusal of the regulator to approve a 40 per cent hike in data and voice tariff, as demanded since 2021.

Following the announcement of a price hike by Starlink, the NCC yesterday, issued a press statement, threatening to sanction Starlink for increasing tariffs without getting approval from NCC.

In the statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Reuben Muoka, NCC expressed surprise over the increase in tariff by Starlink.

But a few hours later, the NCC withdrew the statement and explained that it was issued in error.

Confused by the action of the regulator, the telcos demanded an explanation from the NCC, should NCC allow the price hike by Starlink. 

Reacting to the situation, Adebayo told THISDAY in a telephone interview that it would be nice to see how the scenario plays out.

According to him, telcos have requested tariff review, “which is a basic operational request that we have done, and this has taken over two years.”

He, however, said maybe this meant that the NCC “was not right to have not granted our tariff review since 2021 that the request was made.”

According to him, “now that the NCC is faced with the same challenge with Starlink, who they know is an international player, the NCC may have to address our request also. Since we have made a request to the commission, they are also mandated within a limited period of time to give an answer.

“Starlink also made request for price hike and perhaps they may have taken the period of response to them as concurrent. Maybe that’s what must have happened, but I don’t know,” Adebayo told THISDAY. 

He further said: “So, the NCC needs to say why they are doing what they are doing. But the fact is that rules have to be uniform and equal. They cannot treat Starlink with a different rule and they treat local players with a different rule.

“Starlink as an ISP, is not different from any other ISPs in Nigeria. We want to hear what will be the formal response of NCC to Starlink. Maybe Starlink will be allowed to review its price.”

Asked what ALTON would do if Starlink refuses to return its price back to status quo, Adebayo said telcos would have to re-engage with the regulator. 

” We will take that as precedence and we will re-engage with the regulator. But I know that at the appropriate time, NCC will issue a statement on Starlink. 

“I think the NCC will make a regulatory position on Starlink matter. So, we should probably wait and see what happens over the next few days. But should it be that this price review of Starlink is allowed to stay, then telcos will re-engage with NCC for upward review of telecons Tariff,” Adebayo said.