Major providers of
mobile telephony in the country have threatened to withdraw
their services from the North.
They hinged their threat on the spate of attacks
on base stations which has made them to lose a whopping N1.03bn.
The umbrella body of the telecoms operators, the
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, on Thursday
said its members were losing too much to the development and may close shop if
it became too dangerous to operate in the region.
The major GSM providers – MTN, Glo, Airtel and
Etisalat – are all members of ALTON.
Gunmen, also on Thursday reportedly bombed a base
station belonging to an indigenous telecoms infrastructure company, IHS
Nigeria, in Kano, barely 24 hours after the attack on several base stations in
Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Gombe states.
The Executive Director, Commercial and Business
Development, IHS, Mr. Gbenga Onakomaiya, who confirmed the development to our
correspondent on Thursday, said one of the company’s base stations was bombed
in Borno on Wednesday while another one was bombed in Kano on Thursday morning.
Officials of ALTON put the number of base
stations that had been attacked in the north at 26.
President of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, who
decried the situation, said “If it becomes impossible to continue to do
business in the face of rising attacks on telecoms sites, operators will
naturally suspend operations in the area.
“This is because beyond base stations, these elements
may begin to target telecoms operators‘ offices and data centres among other
key infrastructure. That is why it is important that the situation is curtailed
before it gets to that point.
“During military coups, dissidents attack newspaper and
television houses as well as telecommunications centres and infrastructure to
destabilise the government. This is not different from what we are experiencing
now as people’s phones can’t be reached in the affected areas.”
The ALTON president said an emergency meeting of
the association’s executives had been called for today (Friday) to decide on
what next to do.
A Chief Executive Officer of one of the GSM
companies, who asked not to be named, said though the company was not
contemplating suspending its operations as of now, it could be forced to
do so if the situation persisted.
“We are not contemplating the withdrawal of services as
of today but if the situation continues like this in the next four to five
days, we may have to withdraw service. But we are not contemplating that now,”
he said.
Telecoms infrastructure analysts in the country have
put the average cost of a base station at $250,000, which amounts to N39.47m at
an exchange rate of N157.91 to a dollar as at Thursday.
With 26 base stations already destroyed, an
investment of N1.03bn might have gone down the drain.
Contrary to the belief that only MTN, Airtel and
Glo were affected, the Executive Secretary, ALTON, Mr. Gbolahan Awonuga, said
the attack affected all telecoms operators, including Multilinks and
Helios Tower.
When contacted, an official of Helios Tower, said that
about three of the company’s base stations were also affected.
He confirmed the report that services had been
disrupted in the affected areas as engineers had been finding it
difficult to give adequate reports of the situation because they couldn’t be
reached.
Onokomaiya, who attested to the seriousness of
the situation, said, “One of our base stations was bombed in Borno on Wednesday
and another was bombed in Kano this morning (Thursday). The base station was
completely burnt out. The generators, shelter and equipment are gone. The only
things remaining now are the towers and we have to assess them to ascertain
their integrity.”
A formal report sent by Multilinks to ALTON, which was
made available to our correspondent, confimed that Multilinks base stations
located at Mainok Village, Borno and another one at Abari Village in Damaturu,
were damaged.
The report said, “Reports obtained from our personnel
indicate that extremists numbering about 40 stormed the area at about 22:20 Hrs
on 05/09/2012 and immediately launched an attack on the MTN cell site. After
the attack on MTN cell site, the extremists proceeded to our site which is
close to the MTN site to launch a similar attack.
“As at this (Thursday) morning, the extent of
damage done to the site is yet to be ascertained as contact with the
security men is yet to be established after the attack.
“ Also our Abari site in Damaturu which is not on air
was reportedly attacked also. Details remain sketchy as those resident in the
area were all indoors.”
Stakeholders urged the Federal Government to wade into
the issue to ensure that the safety of lives of operators’ personnel and agents
was assured.
Key stakeholders had called on the Federal Government
to bestow on ICT infrastructure a Critical National Security Infrastructure
pending the time appropriate laws would be enacted to strengthen it.
“The time has come for the passing into law of
the National Security Bill pending in the National Assembly which must be made
all-embracing by giving telecoms industry a critical mention in the bill,” a
former Executive Vice- Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr. Ernest
Ndukwe, said.