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ATC plans $100m investments in Nigeria’s telecoms industry

By Adeyemi Adepetun
30 November 2015   |   1:42 am
NCC foresees end to multiple regulations, taxes soon AFTER talks with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on how to improve quality of service in the telecommunications industry, ATC Wireless Infrastructure Company of Nigeria (ATC Nigeria) an infrastructure management company, has revealed plans to inject about $100 million in the country, especially in co-location services in…
JUWAH-NCC-BOSS

Juwah, NCC Boss

NCC foresees end to multiple regulations, taxes soon

AFTER talks with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on how to improve quality of service in the telecommunications industry, ATC Wireless Infrastructure Company of Nigeria (ATC Nigeria) an infrastructure management company, has revealed plans to inject about $100 million in the country, especially in co-location services in the next two years.

ATC Nigeria Chief Executive, Gordon Porter, who said this during his team’s familiarization visit to NCC’s management, disclosed that the firm has so far invested about $11 million has been invested by the company on tower management with a view to improving quality of service in the country.

Porter informed that 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.

Meanwhile, relying on talks with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, in his response said that challenges posed by multiple regulations, taxes and right of way issues will be over soon.

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.

A statement from the NCC, signed by its Public Affairs Director, Tony Ojobo, quoted the EVC as saying that the commission 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 the quality of service and other sundry matters, including power supply.”

He, therefore, implored ATC Nigeria to ensure regular power supply to the managed base stations in order to make a difference, because government has created an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

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