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Tag: Gbenga Adebayo

  • BREAKING: Millions of Nigerians to be disconnected as MTN, Airtel, Glo, others set to shed service

    BREAKING: Millions of Nigerians to be disconnected as MTN, Airtel, Glo, others set to shed service

    The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) on Monday said its members would start service shedding, if nothing was done to increase tariff.

    In a statement in Lagos, the Chairman of ALTON, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, said the Nigerian telecommunications industry was facing a critical challenge that required urgent attention.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the service shedding, according to the ALTON Chairman, will affect both call and Internet services, and that millions of Nigerians will be disconnected as a result.

    Adebayo stressed that operators, including MTN, Airtel, Glo and others, were struggling to survive due to rising operational costs and stagnant tariffs in the Nigerian telecoms sector.

    “As we reflect on the end of year 2024, there is a need to issue an urgent and critical call to action for the future of our telecommunications industry.

    “The survival of the sector demands immediate and bold reform for its sustainability. Tariffs must be reviewed to reflect the economic realities of delivering telecoms services at a minimum for industry sustainability,” he said.

    The ALTON boss warned that without this review, operators could not continue to guarantee service availability, adding that the sector might face grim consequences.

    He noted some consequences to include, service shedding, economic fallout, and national economic disruption. Adebayo explained that service shedding would mean that operators may not be able to provide services in some areas and at some times of the day, leaving millions of Nigerians disconnected.

    “This will have significant economic fallouts, as businesses will suffer from a lack of connectivity, stalling growth and innovation,” he said.

    Adebayo also warned of national economic disruption, noting that key sectors like security, commerce, healthcare, and education, which rely heavily on telecoms infrastructure, would face serious disruptions.

    Adebayo stressed that the challenges facing the industry are not new, adding that, however, they had become more acute and more threatening with the passing year.

    He cited rising operational costs, skyrocketing energy costs, the relentless pressure of inflation, and volatile exchange rates.

    The ALTON boss expressed confidence that stakeholders would come together to uphold the values and importance of telecommunications in the society, adding that more needed to be done to secure the future of the industry.

    Adebayo called on stakeholders to acknowledge the urgency of the situation and commit to saving the sector, warning that failure to act may jeopardise one of the most critical pillars of Nigeria’s development.

    He stated that ALTON stood ready to work with all stakeholders to ensure the sector’s survival and prosperity.

    “Let this be the moment when we come together, acknowledge the urgency of the situation, and commit to saving this sector. If we fail to act, history will record that we had countless warnings, yet we allowed inaction to jeopardise one of the most critical pillars of Nigeria’s development.

    “If we succeed, 2025 can be the year we turn things around, a year of hope, resilience, and sustainability for the telecoms industry,” Adebayo said.

  • Anxiety as telecoms operators propose tariff hike for voice, data services

    Anxiety as telecoms operators propose tariff hike for voice, data services

    Telecom operators in the country, under the auspices of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have presented demands for the upward review of the mobile termination rate for voice services and the institution of an interim adjustment of the telecom industry’s floor price for voice and data services.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the telecom operators cited increasing cost of business operations and the harsh economic realities for the demands, coming ahead of the conclusion of a cost study by stakeholders in the industry.

    ALTON asked the new Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, to issue policy guidance to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to commence implementation of targeted interventions starting with an upward review of voice call rates, among others.

    They also urged the new Minister to address teething investment-impacting causal factors, to help deepen investment with the overall objective of driving increased CAPEX deployment for improved Quality of Service (QoS), in line with the targets of the Strategic Plan to achieve 50 per cent improvement in QoS by the end of 2024.

    The telecoms operators averred that the cost of doing business in the country had risen sharply in the preceding months due to a myriad of factors generally impacting businesses, including macroeconomic headwinds such as inflation, currency devaluation, sustained difficulty in accessing forex at an affordable rate, rising energy costs, rising cost of securing telecommunications facilities and field personnel in the face of worsening insecurity, among others.

    ALTON chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, decried the strong macroeconomic headwinds which have occasioned tough operating conditions, leading to a decline in CAPEX (Domestic) and Foreign Direct (Capital Inflow) investments into the industry by 30.37 per cent and 46.9 per cent respectively between 2021 and 2022.

    Despite these challenges, Adebayo disclosed that the pricing regulatory framework had not been reviewed to account for changes in macroeconomic conditions and reflect current cost profile of operators, as such, ALTON’s members are unable to price services at a sustainable rate.

    “Consumer prices in other sectors have seen a steep rise over the last six years as they adjust to reflect macroeconomic realities. However, telco prices have remained flat and even declined. Contrary to the price trends in other sectors, telcos have had to adjust for the macroeconomic headwinds caused by an increasing erosion of margins.

    “Other highly regulated sectors such as power and insurance have implemented price increases over the last year. Insurance prices have risen 200 per cent with power raising prices by over 40 per cent.” Adebayo said.

    He noted that telecommunications was the only sector that had not experienced any price review notwithstanding local and global macroeconomic realities, adding that not only has this impaired investor confidence and depleted available investible funds necessary to optimise infrastructure for improved service delivery, but also threatened the very sustainability of telecoms operations.

    On multiple taxation, ALTON chairman appealed to the minister to collaborate with the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms to address the perennial incidence of multiple taxation in the Nigerian telecommunications sector, including the elimination of the currently suspended excise duty on telecommunications services.

    On infrastructure bill, Adebayo averred that operators have recorded several cases of vandalism of their equipment and shut down of their infrastructure by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government and communities, as a means of compelling them to comply with their demands for spurious taxes or levies.

    This is even as he tasked the House Committee to sponsor/coordinate a Critical National Infrastructure bill that will accord telecommunications infrastructure the same level of protection as other critical national assets and will provide a legal framework to guide law enforcement agencies accordingly.

    In his response, the communication minister said he would look into all that had been tabled by ALTON and said the challenges were not insurmountable.

    He informed the team of operators that the sector was not innovative enough in the attempt to reach the unreached people in the rural areas and unlock the services for a lot of people through technology, just as he urged operators to carry out more research and development to boost the sector.

  • Telecom operators to disconnect banks over N120bn USSD debt

    Telecom operators to disconnect banks over N120bn USSD debt

    Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria say they have been granted approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to disconnect banks over N120 billion Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debt.

    This was made known in a statement signed by Mr Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), on Friday in Lagos.

    He said that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) would disconnect banks if they failed to pay the debt owed.

    Adebayo said that the approval was granted because in spite of the multi-party stakeholder efforts to resolve the situation and prevent any impact on services, banks continued to incur greater debt, without making the commensurate payments.

    He said members of the public would recall that MNOs and banks had protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions, transparency of charges, mode of collection and liability for payment of the outstanding and continuous service fees due to the MNOs.

    “Due to the inability of MNOs and banks to reach an agreement on the issues, MNOs in 2021 sought to disconnect banks due to the unpaid debts which stood at N42 billion as at that time.

    “However, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, intervened and asked the MNOs not to disconnect banks as the action will negatively impact on the digital and financial inclusion policy of the Federal Government.

    “Unfortunately, the patriotic intervention of the minister and the NCC have been taken for granted by the banks, as two years after, the banks have failed to sign a final agreement,” he said.

    Adebayo noted that It was pertinent to note that the contract between MNOs and banks on the use of USSDs for banking transactions was strictly commercial and MNOs were at liberty to withdraw the services if the transaction was unprofitable to them.

    He noted that MNOs have invested billions of naira in expanding their systems to accommodate the USSD needs of banks over the years.

    Adebayo said this had resulted in more Nigerians having access to banking services in addition to enabling banks to trim down costs by requiring less branches to service their growing customers.

    He said that unfortunately, MNOs were not getting paid for their services and the debt that stood at N42 billion in 2021 had now risen to over N120 billion.

    “It is obvious that the level of debt is unsustainable given the time or value of the huge cost of the continuous upgrade, operation of the systems and infrastructure dedicated to supporting USSD transactions of banks.

    “In view of the foregoing, unless banks meet their debt obligations, MNOs will disconnect all banks indebted to them for USSD services rendered,” Adebayo said.

  • Coming 5G networks: How Nigerians can derive maximum benefits

    Gbenga Adebayo, President, Association of Licenced Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has revealed how Nigerians can derive maximum benefits from the coming 5th generation networks.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports President of the ALTON made the revelation on Wednesday during the 2019 Workshop for Judges on Legal Issues in Telecommunications organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    According to the ALTON President, the country “needs robust infrastructure that guarantees uninterrupted telecom services to be able to enjoy derivable benefits of the coming 5th generation networks”.

    Speaking at the workshop, Dr. A. S. Peters, while noting that radiation would normally affect the bio-system, said there is no existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level EMF.

    “Radiation would affect the bio-system but the fundamental question is the threshold above which the effects become enabling or a threat to human health.

    “Importantly, after over 25,000 peer reviewed papers and meta-analysis, WHO has done in-depth review of available literature and concluded that current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level EMF,” said Peters.

    According to Prof. Abiola Sanni at the workshop, beyond multiple regulations and other infrastructure disruption issues, the major problem bedevilling the telecom sector may be abuse of regulatory powers by various agencies for revenue purposes.

    However, Odume Ikechukwu, Director of Legal Services at FIRS said there hasn’t been any increase in taxation because FIRS has no power to unilaterally increase taxes.

    “Even VAT is still 5% and Personal Income Tax has not been increased,” the FIRS Director said.

    Meanwhile, in his welcome address at the workshop that held Enugu, Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NCC, who was represented by Sunday Dare, the Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management at NCC, said the workshop, which has held for 17 consecutive years, is organised annually by the Commission to bring the judiciary up to speed with emerging issues in telecommunications.

    The objective is to enhance the capacity of the judiciary to dispense justice in telecommunications cases from an informed position oriented in appropriate and contemporary knowledge.

    “Indeed, technology can make the law to be very timid and reluctant because technology evidently moves faster while the law struggles to catch up.

    “The implication of this is that judges may face situations in which they may have to rely on extant laws to adjudicate on cases, thus creating scenarios that are out of sync with reality,” a statement by the Commission read.

    This circumstance of disparity in tempo of progress between technology and the law, as well as attendant necessity for synchronisation through knowledge sharing which is the overarching objective of the workshop, was amplified by Hon. Justice R.P.I. Bozimo, the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute, and by Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed PhD CFR, Hon. Ag. Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman, Board of Governors of the National Judicial Institute, who was represented at the event by Hon. Justice Mary Odili, JSC, in the Opening Remark and Keynote Address respectively.

    The moderator of the workshop, Sunday Dare, set the ball rolling by inviting Yetunde Akinloye, NCC’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Services, to make the first major presentation of the day – Overview of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003.

    Akinloye told the judges that because the NCA do not provide for everything like most laws, section 70 of the Act empowers the Commission to make subsidiary legislations and the legislations go through normal legal processes and are gazetted before they become operational.

    Akinloye also revealed that Lawful Interception Regulation, National Communications Policy 2012 (undergoing review), the National Broadband Policy 2013-2018 are part of the instruments affect and shape the operation of the Act.

    The NCC according to Akinloye also derives powers from the Nigerian Telegraphy Act of 1961 (reviewed in 1998). She noted that the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015, and the new Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (2019) are also regulations that overlap with some provisions of NCA 2003 and NCC relates with agencies supervising the implementation of these and other impinging laws to reduce the spectrum of conflict in enforcing the laws.

    “The operators in Nigeria are complaining about the OTTs because of the implications for revenue and operational issues. So, as a regulator NCC is exploring how to achieve a win-win situation between operational issues and the need for services to be available, accessible and affordable to the consumers,” Akinloye said.

    Conclusively, Akinloye told the judges that the Nigerian Communications Act (2003) is undergoing comprehensive review by the Nigerian Law Reform Commission.

  • Telecoms indebtedness: Operators beg for interconnect settlement scheme

    Telecoms indebtedness: Operators beg for interconnect settlement scheme

    Stakeholders in the telecommunications ecosystem have urged Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to establish Interconnect Settlement Scheme to address issues arising from interconnect indebtedness in the industry.

    They cited the example of Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reconcile inter- bank transactions.

    According to them, the establishment of this scheme has become expedient in view of high indebtedness between operators; most of the debts are on account of dispute.

    Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said that the situation in the industry is so bad that the indebtedness between parties is better not discussed.

    “In essence, people are owing. That said; it is just goes to speak why sometimes there would be cold war. Because, when those meeting are held it is better we are not aware. The situation of indebtedness between parties is very worrisome. It speaks volumes about the state of the health of the entire industry.

    “Some people challenge me: if you say you are not making money why do you spend so much on billboards. Now, you have seen that those billboards are actually bank money. The situation is so bad that we are not proud to talk about the debt.Ike Nnamani, chief executive officer, Medallion, attributed the situation to refusal of operators to make use of interconnect clearing houses as mandated by NCC.

    “When indebtedness among operators rose to an alarming level some years back, NCC licensed interconnect clearing houses to ensure transparency in the billing process and mandated every operator to rout at least 10 percent of their traffic through the clearing platform, but, today none of the operators are anywhere close to 10 percent.

    “Some are doing five percent while some are less than that, this means that more than 90 percent of traffic in the industry is exchanged directly among other which gave rise to high indebtedness as we witness today,” he said.

    He explained that exchanging traffic directly among operators does not guarantee transparent billing as well gives rise to anti competition practices as we see it today.

    It would be recalled that the NCC in 2012 licensed interconnect clearing houses to provide and operate Interconnect Exchange Services to the telecommunications Operators, by so doing address the issue of indebtedness in the sector after big operators where denying smaller operators interconnection to their network as a result of debts owe to them.

    The take-off of interconnect clearing house which provided the platform for sorting out of monies due to each operator and period of settlement helped to address that indebtedness.

     

  • Telecoms industry lost 21 operators in 10 years – ALTON

    Telecoms industry lost 21 operators in 10 years – ALTON

    The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) says 21 telecommunications operators have gone into extinction in the country in the last 10 years.

    ALTON Chairman, Mr Gbenga Adebayo made this known during the ”Broadband Summit 2017”, organized by BusinessDay Media Ltd., on Friday in Lagos.

    Adebayo said that the operators businesses went under due to the economic and operational challenges inherent in the industry.

    He said that as at 2006, ALTON had 35 members, but between 2007 to date, its members had reduced to 14.

    According to him, if care is not taken, more service providers might still close shop before the end of year.

    The ALTON Chairman said that the operators which had exited the Nigerian telecommunications space include Multilinks, Starcomms and O’Net.

    “The economic challenges include poor power generation, multiple taxation, exorbitant Right of Way levies, insecurity and over-regulation among others.

    “The operational issues are anti-competition and lack of fund to roll out,” he said.

    Adebayo said that the cost of getting the Right of Way was over 60 per cent of the total amount to putting up the infrastructure.

    He said that within the last five months, the surviving operators lost over 20,000 batteries to theft and vandals at their base stations.

    The ALTON Chairman said that some of the batteries, according to investigations carried out, were sold to some inverter operators in the country.

    Adebayo called on government at all levels to protect the sector because of its immense contribution to the growth of the economy.

    “Until we are able to classify the telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, the problems will persist.

    “There should be sanction of long term prison service for vandals of telecommunications infrastructure. If there is severe sanction, it will serve as deterrent,” he said.