Ime Akpan
Telecommunications operators in the country have warned the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) of the consequences of making good its threat of pulling down over 7, 000 telecommunication masts.
It would be recalled that the NCAA had, on Tuesday, April 23, threatened to bring down over 7,000 telecommunication masts and towers belonging to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) providers.
The agency said it resorted to such action following the refusal of some GSM providers to obtain the statutory aviation height clearance (AHC).
He said without AHC, the masts and towers constitute danger to safety of air navigation.
But the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) warned that carrying out the threat will create challenges for the telecoms sector.
Speaking at Vanguard Economic Forum held in Lagos yesterday, the chairmen of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo said any telecoms site brought down illegally and without due consultation would not be rebuilt, adding that the consequences would be felt by all.
He said NCAA’s move is another way to impose unwarranted taxes on the sector, which he said is already over- burdened with multiple taxations.
He said telecommunication remains “infrastructure of infrastructure” because other sectors including aviation, banking, health and transport rely on information and communication technology (ICT) to drive their operations.
“Our association went to see the director general of NCAA about three months ago and that was to discuss the issue of aviation height clearance (AHC) and we concluded on a committee to look into it.
“It sounds very strange, but also very interesting, because it speaks to the fact that our sector has become the subject of attack from agencies.
”So, to the NCAA and the public, I will say if they are going to dismantle those sites, good luck to them.
”As an industry, we are not going to rebuild any of these sites. So what the NCAA is doing is to throw the nation into telecom blackout.
“And against that I will say there will be criminal prosecution and there will certainly be security crisis,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo alleged that the telecommunications sector had become object of attack from every angle and that the country has forgotten that telecoms still remain infrastructure because other sectors, including aviation, banking, health, transport rely on information and communications technology (ICT) to drive their operations.
