The entire ICT sector was massively
shaken, last week when the news broke of the attack on telecom operators' base
stations and other installations by persons suspected to be terrorists.
At least, 26 mobile phone
masts belonging to operators MTN, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat, Multilinks, and
telecom infrastructure provider, Helios Towers were targeted and destroyed
across northern Nigeria by the assailants. The terrorists, had earlier in the year issued
a warning that it would attack telecommunications installations because
operators were assisting security operatives in tracking its members.
Mobile phone masts
They seemed to have made good the
threat, as young men armed with guns and bombs hit mobile phone masts in northern
Nigerian cities of Kano, Maiduguri, Gombe, Bauchi and Potiskum in two
consecutive days of coordinated attacks.
A statement purportedly issued by Boko
Haram and signed by Abul-Qaqa, admitted responsibility for the bombing of
telecommunication facilities in Borno, Yobe, Kano and Bauchi States. It warned
that the attacks would continue on telecom facilities.
Many stakeholders and industry
analysts have expressed concern at this turn of events, especially at a time
the operators are ramping up efforts to significantly improve the quality of
service available to customers in the sector. MTN in an official reaction said
the attacks had caused service challenges in parts of the north as sensitive
hub sites were affected.
According to the company's Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck,
"we confirm that like all the other major telecommunication operators,
some of MTN's installations in Northern Nigeria have been damaged by unknown
persons. As far as we are aware, there were no fatalities as a result of these
attacks and we are receiving full co-operation from the relevant government
security agencies".
Grave dangers
Also, chairman of the Association of
Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo
has equally spoken of the grave consequences this latest development has on the
ongoing efforts to raise service quality levels across the industry, raising
alarm that it could arrest the pace of growth in the sector and set the
industry back substantially, as money that could have been used for building
more base stations will now be used for replacements.
He said: "when a base station is
put out of service, often the implications go farther than the immediate
environment. And this is one of the things we have been telling agencies of
government which take delight in shutting down operators' base stations. There
are base stations which are hubs for an entire region. When it is out of
commission, the entire region is blacked out. It's as simple of that.
Transmission outages
And even for the other ones, the way
they are planned sometimes, they are meant to be inter-dependent. Damage to one
Microwave Tower will often affect several others in line of sight, causing
widespread transmission outages affecting subscribers and QoS.
In essence, damage to an installation
can actually have ripple effect on service quality nationwide. These are the
real dangers of this sort of ugly development, and a reason why we must quickly
nip it in the bud."
Adebayo however denounced reports
making the rounds that operators have threatened to wind down operations in
affected areas. According to him, "there was no time we threatened to wind
down operations in affected areas. As a matter of fact, after our meeting at
the weekend, we resolved to continue to provide services particularly as we
received assurance from government that the facilities would be on 24 hour
surveillance at every region".
However, he revealed that it may take
a little time for services would be restored in those areas because "we will have to do thorough checks and proper audit
of the extent of damage. Again, you know that no operator was prepared for this
and telecom facilities are not bought and kept in a store like spare parts. So
it may take some time for service restoration in the affected areas. But we did
not resolve to discontinue provision of services at any time"
A systems engineer with one of the
operators also spoke to this reporter on the issue, corroborated Adebayo. He
said that the biggest tragedy of this latest development was that the long list
of challenges confronting operators had been expanded by yet another
debilitating one.
"Already, operators
are operating under unbelievably challenging environment. Many people do not
really appreciate the kind of problems operators contend with on a consistent
basis in order to ensure that service is provided to telecom users 24 hours. We
were actually hoping for some relief, and now, terrorism has now joined the
long list".
Pre-existing challenges that the
operators have variously complained about before now include inadequate power
from the national grid, which has forced them to make alternative arrangements
at all their base stations, theft and vandalism of equipment, sabotage, multiple
regulation and multiple taxation.
Indeed violent attacks had been
carried out on telecom facilities before but only by people who were intent on
stealing from the installations. In one of such attacks on MTN's base station
in Aba, Abia State in 2010, six men working on the site were killed by robbers.
Now, terrorism brings a new dimension
to the pre-existing security challenges, as entire base stations are blown away
with bombs and other incendiary devices, wasting millions of naira worth of
investment in the process.
Analysts estimate that a
base station may cost anything between $250,000 and $1m to build, depending on
location and other factors. A rough estimate of the damage already done is put
at over a trillion naira. This money that ought to go into expanding and
optimising existing infrastructure will now go into replacing the damaged
facilities.
Protecting telecom
infrastructure
Industry watchers are not finding the
development funny. For former president of ATCON and CEO
Teledom, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, "the
tragedy of this development is the difficulties it will impose on the people of
the entire northern region before the operators are able to rebuild their
destroyed infrastructure. We are talking about this issue because it is
replaceable without causing national calamity.
"What if any of the
bank's data database infrastructure was blown out by cyber terrorists, do you
know what a national tragedy it would be, when proper accounts of people's
money would no longer be traceable? I only wish that the operators would return
services to the poor natives who are now suffering for the problem caused by a
few disgruntled elements"
he added.
President of ATCON, Engr Lanre Ajayi
also shared the same sentiments with Ekuwem. For him, "until
the government makes telecom facilities, critical national infrastructure and
provide tight security for them, these ugly incidents may continue to happen.
But now, everybody including the operators, common people and even the
terrorists are suffering the fatalities of this action. That is why it should
not be left as the burden of the operators alone. Time to look at these issues
differently is now"
Meanwhile, an economist and Lagos
based social commentator, Mr. Bassey
Umoren had decried the
development, urging all stakeholders to rise in unison against anything that
threatens the only performing sector of the economy.
"Telecom has become the cash cow
of everybody, from the local government to the Federal Government. In fact, the
Nigeria telecommunications fact sheet released by the United States Embassy in
Nigeria in October 2011, noted that the ICT sector is the fastest-growing and
most robust sector of the Nigerian economy, contributing more than the
manufacturing, banking and solid minerals sectors combined," Umoren said.
How telecom benefits the
economy
Indeed, a study by
London-based research firm, Pyramid Research, indicated that revenues generated
by the telecoms industry amounted to $8.6 billion in 2010 and has maintained a
steady growth ever since. The firm predicts in the report that the revenues will
hit $11 billion (N1.7 trillion) by 2013. Chunks of the revenues have
significantly boosted the receipts of many government agencies through tax and
levies paid by the operators.
Other beneficiaries of telecom
sector's buoyancy include National Lottery Regulatory Commission, the Consumer
Protection Council, state and local governments, which impose all manner of
levies on the operators, etc. The sector has in the last 11 years become the
darling of investors, attracting more than US $18 billion by the end of 2009,
from a total private sector investment of about US$50 Million in 1999,
according to the Executive Vice Chairman, (EVC) of NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah.
Juwah said more than N300 billion was
contributed to the coffers of the federal government within that time frame,
through frequency spectrum sales, enabling government to plough back revenues
earned from the sector for provision of development infrastructure at the
various levels of government.
The percentage share of GDP from the
sector rose from 0.06 percent in 1999 to 2.39 percent by 2007; moved up to 2.90
percent in 2008, and 3.66 in 2009. By 2010, ICT had contributed 8.2 percent to
the nation's GDP. The industry's FDI currently stands at $25bn.
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