Thirteen telecommunication operators have been declared inactive by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) following the crash of the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology in the country.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Eugene Juwah.
They could no longer offer competitive services to customers who decided to port to other network operators.
The porting is, however, not linked to the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) introduced in April last year, since the 13 operators had long shown signs of distress.
MNP allows subscribers to port numbers from one network to another in search of better service.
The list of inactive operators posted on NCC’s website include one national carrier, one GSM operator, five CDMA operators, and six fixed wireless operators.
Active, inactive operators
They include NITEL, MTel, Starcomms, Reliance Telecoms (Zoom Mobile), Intercellular, MTS First Communications, WiTel, O’ Net (Odua Telecoms), Rainbownet, Monarch Communications, Xs Broadband, Webcom, and Disc Communications.
Starcomms was once the largest and most vibrant CDMA operator but it went under in a bid to expand.
It had agreed to an outright sale to Capcom, which promised to merge its operations with Multilinks and MTS First Wireless, after buying the two CDMA operators.
The plan was to merge the three into a bigger and stronger operator that could compete with GSM operators. But the agreement between Starcomms and Capcom failed, leaving the three CDMA operators weaker, and led to their extinction.
The NCC’s website listed active operators to include MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Etisalat, Visafone, 21st Century, and Multilinks Telkom.
Anambra hammers new taxes
In another development, Anambra State has come down heavily on the operators with multiple taxes in spite of the efforts by the Ministry of Communications Technology and the NCC to end multiple taxation.
Governor Willie Obiano is set to shut down GSM operations in the state any time from now unless they pay up.
Obiano, in a bid to raise internally generated revenue (IGR), imposed a N750,000 levy per telecom base station, according to TheCable, an online publication.
Operators are to pay N700,000 for a new base station or a fine of N1 million for defaulting. The combined revenue from a levy on the four major operators is estimated at N1.5 billion.
Current taxes
Telecom providers, who have not complied with the new directive, currently pay other levies, including planning permit fees, tenement rate, and advertisement signage fees to the Anambra State government.
They have been complaining about multiple taxes and excessive levies across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
If Anambra shuts down the stations, there are huge economic implications for a state where Nnewi and Onitsha, two of Nigeria’s biggest commercial centres, are located.
A demand notice was issued to the operators last month by GeoSonic Nigeria, revenue consultants to the state government.
Operators groan
A reliable source said the operators have made efforts to meet with Obiano without success. Communications and Technology Minister, Omobola Johnson, has also tried to resolve the matter with him without success.
The operators claim they are compelled by the three tiers of government to pay various levies. This compounds the other challenges of multiple regulations and taxes inimical to business growth, they argued.