AMID controversy trailing the closure of some Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in Plateau state, the National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has mandated all operators to ensure their facility comply with laid down regulations, especially site specific environmental Impact assessment certificate.

The agency also denied allegation that its closure of some BTS is responsible for the poor telecommunication services or ‘drop calls’ being experienced in the country. NESREA heaped the blame of deterioration in services on vandalism of BTS facilities, epileptic power supply, obsolete equipment and sharp practices by building contractors.

Director-General, NESREA, Dr. Ngeri Benebo, told The Guardian last week in Abuja that NATCOMS accusations are baseless since the agency had mandated all operators to ensure that all their new BTS must be environmentally compliant with the agency’s regulations.

NATCOMS president, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, had urged the federal government to caution NESREA over the “disturbance of telecoms industry growth” especially on the recent closure of one of Globacom’s base stations in Plateau state for “allegedly’ not adhering to regulations.

Benebo said that despite recent meetings with the ministers of Environment and Communications technology that resolved issues of specifications, these BTS offenders were still unwilling to adhere.

Benebo said: “We want environmental governance, global best practice. Since the security challenges, we have not sealed up any BTS, it’s the new ones that are springing up that we are giving stop orders…because for the new ones we expect them to adhere to laid down regulations.”