Telecoms operators threaten to shut down operations in six states

 Disturbed by alleged incessant shut down of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) sites, telecommunications operators have threatened to shut down their operations in six states.

At a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, the operators, under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), alleged unnecessary harassment by state agents, a situation they said was seriously waning on quality of telecommunications services in the country.

Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, who, while briefing journalists, listed the states to include Ogun, Ondo, Akwa-Ibom, Ebonyi, Osun and Kaduna, said the body continued to record cases of arbitrary site closure in the states in an attempt to force service providers to pay local taxes and levies, some of which they described as multiple in nature and most of which are only aimed toward telecoms operators.

According to Adebayo, the states are treating the industry like an extractive one and imposing myriads of taxes on operators and closing down the BTS sites arbitrarily through their agents, not minding the security and economic implications.

A BTS is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets), WLL phones, and computers with wireless Internet connectivity. The network can be that of any of the wireless communication technologies like GSM, CDMA, wireless local loop, Wi-Fi, WiMAX or other wide area network (WAN) technology.