NCC PLANS TO SHUT MTN, ETISALAT, GLO, AIRTEL OVER N1.7B FINE

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.