Tax: We aren’t ripping telecom operators —Fashola

The governor maintained while reacting to key telecoms industry issues raised by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah during a visit by the regulator’s management to the governor in Lagos on Thursday that what the operators referred to as multiple taxation are normal administrative fees.Fashola said the fees are […]

The governor maintained while reacting to key telecoms industry issues raised by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah during a visit by the regulator’s management to the governor in Lagos on Thursday that what the operators referred to as multiple taxation are normal administrative fees.
Fashola said the fees are necessary for the operators to get permits for deployment of telecoms masts and other infrastructure, adding that “there is nothing like multiple taxations here.”
On the right of way (ROW) issue, which is the permit giving to the operating firms to lay their cables to provide services, the governor said, “As a state, we understand the role of telecoms and data in growing the economy of our state and we have been creating ducts along every road we are building for some years now, yet the operators, through their contractors, prefer to dig the roads.”
He called for increased level of corporate governance by the operators to follow all rules of doing business, noting that “Operators play hide-and-seek game, they don’t want to pay.”
The governor also urged NCC not to give the operators ‘safe harbour’, stressing that the telecoms regulation is multi jurisdictional.
Reacting to the court case, which started between the operators and the state on the allegation that the state wanted to be playing a telecoms regulator’s role, he said: “The role of NCC is to issue licences and regulate services but if the operators build their masts and other infrastructures, we must, as a state, ensure that they are built in line with public safety. So that’s where we come in.”
Earlier, the EVC who commended the government for massive infrastructure deployment to aid economic activities in the state listed multiple taxation, problem of ROW and vandalism, among others as challenges facing operating companies.
He sought the collaboration of the State towards ensuring that favourable cooperation exists between the operators, the regulator and the state government.
“There are a whole lot to discuss about your government, as a progressive one, would support and partner with the Commission in achieving our collective objectives of supporting the economy, accelerating infrastructure deployment and providing effective services for the teeming telecoms subscribers,” he said.