Multiple regulations, taxes will be over soon – NCC

If talks with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) are anything to go by, multiple regulations, taxes and right of way issues will be over soon, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has said. Besides talks with NGF, the NCC, Danbatta said has also engaged other agencies […]

If talks with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) are anything to go by, multiple regulations, taxes and right of way issues will be over soon, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has said.
Besides talks with NGF, the NCC, Danbatta said has also engaged other agencies of government in talks with a view to improving relationship with telecommunications service providers who are often the victims of these taxes and multiple regulations.
Danbatta spoke in Abuja when he received the Management Team of ATC Wireless Infrastructure Company of Nigeria (ATC Nigeria) an infrastructure management  company.
The EVC said that NCC as a responsible regulatory agency is worried about multiple regulations and taxes because they do not augur well for smooth development of the telecommunications sector “so we have decided to engage all stakeholders especially other government agencies in order to cushion the pains operators go through”.
Danbatta said “the NCC is particularly worried about the indiscriminate way base transceiver stations are sealed by agencies and some state governments and we have appealed to these agencies and the state governors to show some understanding.”
“We are particularly in talks with them to understand the implications of these actions as they affect quality of service and other sundry matters, including power supply.”
Earlier in his remarks, Chief Executive of ATC Nigeria, Mr. Gordon Porter said his team came to familiarize itself with the NCC management and to “tell you what we do, how we do it and why we do what we do”.
ATC recently acquired 4716 cell sites from Bharti Airtel Nigeria and for the past 146 days it has deployed 1,000 generators and replaced 600 air-condition units.
So far, over $11Million has been invested by the company on these towers with a view to improving quality of service very significantly.