NCC gives Owners of 693 Abandoned Masts 90 Days Deadline

Mon, Aug 12, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Business

THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has given owners of 693 abandoned telecom masts across the country 90 days to rehabilitate them. At the end of the deadline, the commission will demolish the mast should the owners of the base transceiver stations fail to heed the order.

It will also impose fine and make them reimburse the regulator for expenses incurred while removing the masts.

Henry Nkemadu, director, Public Affairs, NCC, who stated this, also said that more than 400 of the masts could not be identified by the commission as they were not linked to any network operator.

More than 200 of the abandoned structures are linked to three defunct Internet service providers namely Rainbownet, Reltel/Zoom and Starcomms.

“Where there is a failure to comply with this directive, the commission shall exercise its regulatory mandate by taking the necessary steps to decommission/dismantle the abandoned masts/towers. Affected licensees will also be required to reimburse the commission for expenses in this regard, in addition to the payment of a fine as provided in Chapter 5 (4)(d) of the Guidelines,” he added.

According to him, continued existence of such masts unattended has health and safety implications while non-usage of them has provided an opportunity for illegal mounting of broadcast equipment in those locations.

“Failure to maintain these structures over a long period of time has resulted in their technical failure and constant vandalisation with negative consequences on public health and safety. In certain locations, it was observed that criminals took advantage of these abandoned structures to host illegal broadcast equipment for relaying subversive messages against the state,” he said.

The commission issued Guidelines on Technical Specifications for the Installation of Telecommunications Masts and Towers in 2009 with provisions on appropriate maintenance of such telecommunications facilities.

Nigeria Communications Week reported that Rainbownet Limited, a private fixed wireless telephone operator, allegedly owned by a former Governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani, was taken over alongside other companies by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria for failure to pay a debt of N42billion.

Also, Reltel, a fixed-wireless provider, which later rebranded to Zoom Mobile, shut down operation in the country for reportedly unable to compete with the four major network operators in the country.

Starcomms, another Code Division Multiple Access operator, which is no longer in operation, had initially reached an agreement to raise $210m from Capcom Limited in order to stay afloat. However, the deal was not successful as Capcom reportedly could not raise the required funds to acquire the company.

– Aug. 12, 2019 @ 13:25 GMT |

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