High fees for right of way (ROW) in states, taxes and levies combine to keep telecommunications network service perpetually poor.
About 70 percent of information and communication technology (ICT)deployment cost is spent on processing RoW, taxes and levies.
Communications Technology Minister, Omobola Johnson
Communications Technology Minister, Omobola Johnson, said the situation is compounded by rifeinter-agency conflicts and long approval processes to ensure standards are met.
But a reply to an email enquiry sent to Johnson, written by her spokesperson, EfemNkanga, gave a flicker of hope.
Nkangadisclosed thatan agreement has been reached with the Ministry of Environment and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) on the construction of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) that will beat down cost for ICT providers.
According to her, ICT infrastructure cannot be built without consideration for the environment, and effort is being made to remove bottlenecks.
“To tackle quality of service issues in the industry, the ministry, in partnership with the Ministry of Works, developed new right of way guidelines for federal government roads to enable operators have unencumbered meansof laying fibre optics critical for infrastructure development and quality of service,”Nkanga added.
The ministry got Governors and relevant state and federal authorities talking to stop multiple taxation and arbitrary charges.
A landmark agreement with the Lagos State government reduced the cost of RoW base station deployment by85 per cent, she said, and that the ministry is working to replicate this in other states.
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