Politics of base station

Preamble:

Initially, it sounded like one of those rumours making around, but it turned out to be true when the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) residents in Abuja soon realized that their calls cannot go through.

Promptly, the issue was reported to the telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that a sister federal government agency, National Environmental Standards Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has shut down a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), originally belonging to MTN Nigeria located at Efab Estate, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, but now houses several other mobile operators.

Regulatory interference:

NCC officials confirmed to DigitalSENSE News that NESREA’s action was tantamount to regulatory meddlesomeness in the telecommunications industry. According to Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, “It’s an interference on NCC’s regulatory activities as NASREA discountenanced the Commission’s regulation on installation of masts and towers,” hence, NCC unsealed the BTS.

DigitalSENSE News recalls that NCC is a statutorily independent national regulatory authority for telecommunications, responsible for creating an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry, plus ensuring provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services countrywide.

Conversely, NESREA is a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development under NESREA Act of July 30, 2007; mandated to enforce all environmental laws, guidelines, policies, standards and regulations in Nigeria.

But, before one could say t-e-l-e, the NESREA team reappeared at the Efab Estate to reseal the base station, thus attracting condemnation of telecom stakeholders. While reshutting the base station four days after NCC unsealed the same base station the previous Monday, NESREA argued that it has the rights under the Environmental Protection Act to take its step.

MTN, a responsible operator:

Reacting, the Corporate Services Executive at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Wale Goodluck, said in Lagos that MTN’s BTS initially shut about two weeks earlier by NESREA, citing non-compliance with set-down requirements for BTS. He noted that NCC was convinced that the BTS indeed met all requirements set by the regulator for setting up BTS in Nigeria.

Mr. Goodluck restated that MTN as a responsible corporate citizen abides by the rules and regulations governing the provision of telecommunications services in Nigeria. Stressing that they have thoroughly observed the guidelines listed by NCC for setting up BTS across the country.

He lamented the increasing incidence of arbitrary shut-down of telecom facilities by diverse government departments and agencies, saying it could compromise the gains recorded in the sector in the last 10 years, while alleging one thing or another.

Goodluck recollects that MTN’s services were disrupted in the eastern part of the country last year when the Abia State Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) sealed off MTN sites, a number of which were hub sites in Abia State.

Chief Ogunbanjo, NATCOMS President

“Our customers were needlessly plunged into service difficulties by this action before normalcy was restored. Our facilities across the country have been pointlessly shut down by all manner of government agencies in the last few years,” he said. These highlights, he said, compounded the problem, even as criminal elements also wantonly damage the company’s facilities across the country.

He, therefore, apologised to MTN’s customers affected by the shut of BTS and indeed, all subscribers in the entire FCT, who may have experienced congestion as a result of the loss of capacity on the affected site. Goodluck enjoined customers’ understanding, assuring that intensified efforts were being made to quickly resolve the issues and restore normal services.

NESREA, on Act we stand:

Responding, NESREA threatened to drag MTN to court for violating environmental guidelines by locating a base station in the residential area, according to Director, Inspection and Enforcement Department, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, the location violated the stipulated 10-metre guideline.

NESREA, she clarified, was not in conflict with NCC over regulation of telecom operations, but the agency has responsibility to regulate and enforce environmental guidelines for construction not only telecoms’ stations, but also other industrial sites. She condemned some companies operating in Nigeria for violating the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) policy. Maintaining, NESREA Act empowers the agency to ensure a healthy and clean environment for all Nigerians.

DigitalSENSE News gathered, violation of NESREA Act attracts N5 million fine, while for some residents, the base station poses a serious health threat, hence they invited NESREA in first instance and were happy on action so far.

One of the resident, Mrs. Christy Uche of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), she resides about 1.2 metres from the base station, who protested to the Ministry of Health to assess the level of environmental hazard the BTS may have caused. “I believe that with my age and level of education, I should be able to voice out my problem, because I do not believe in medicine after death, and when it happens, they will begin to do compensation,” she said, alleging Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA) had requested MTN to remove the mast from inception, but would not listen. Insisting, she had lived at the location since 2007, before the mast was installed in 2009. “Now, the vibration from their generator is disturbing my entire household,” she bemoaned.

For the chairman, Efab Landlords and Tenants Association, Mr. Isiaka Faruna, the construction of the mast was opposed by most residents living close to it, yet MTN went ahead.

Don’t destroy telecoms industry –NATCOMS warns:

While reacting to the controversy, president, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo cautioned NESREA not to destroy the success story of telecoms industry in the past decade.

NATCOMS’ position tagged ‘N-E-S-R-E-A, Please do not destroy the telecoms industry’ described the hullabaloo as a dismay, which resulted in telecommunications network disruptions and poor quality of service to teeming Nigerian subscribers. “We believe that the actions of any responsible agency of government should not be predicated on sentiments, but by facts provided by recognized bodies and experts in the fields like the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP),” he said.

NATCOMS lamented that the concern according to NESREA was the electromagnetic emission from base stations in residential areas, arguing that they have already noted that WHO has not confirmed that this Electromagnetic emission from BTS is harmful to human beings.

“Moreover in very many countries, telecoms masts or radios are installed on the roof tops of many high rise buildings and sky scrapers,” he declared. Pointing out that NCC has set guidelines for the installation of mast and towers taking into cognizance the acceptable distance of masts to the nearest adjourning property or residential buildings in line with international best practices and standards.

NESREA’s indiscriminate closure is therefore a source of concern for Nigerian subscribers who have continued to clamour for improved quality of service in particular, arguing, the agency is not addressing the industrial effluence from the manufacturing sector or even carbon emissions from the generating sets used in various offices, homes, estates and markets or shopping malls.

Seal of base stations, a national embarrassment –ALTON

Equally, the president, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo described the face-off between NCC and NESREA as a national embarrassment and particularly to the industry.

He told DigitalSENSE News that ALTON differs with NESREA and stands by NCC position on the issue, arguing, even if an agency of the government wishes to seal off an infrastructure, courtesy demands due process by way of getting court injunction, alerting the relevant operators concerned and precisely the industry regulator before the final aspect of exercise of the court injunction.

Based on foregoing, ALTON again cautioned the attendant disruptions in communications service caused by the increasing spate of interference with telecoms installations by an agency of government purportedly carrying out regulatory functions.

“As we have noted in the past, these impulsive closures cause very serious negative impacts to Nigerians whose lives and livelihood increasingly depend on the 100 per cent availability of the telecoms networks and are particularly worrisome given current security challenges in the country,” he said.

ALTON, accordingly notes that all telecoms and other installations must comply with extant laws regarding environmental safety, insisting that in order to achieve this, NCC as the sole statutory regulator of telecoms industry has articulated and aggressively enforces regulations on the installation of masts, towers and other telecom facilities, hitherto.

However, ALTON noted that NESREA has continued to assert conflicting jurisdiction on this matter, carrying out arbitrary and unjustified closures and demobilisation of such infrastructure.

They noted with excitement that the Honorable Ministers of the Environment and Communications Technology recently took ministerial action to harmonise the activities of NESREA and NCC on the technical environmental regulation of the telecoms sector.

“It is however saddening to note that NESREA has continued to carry on as if it is not subject to either the laws of the Federation or the supervisory authority of the honourable Minister of the Environment,” ALTON lamented.

The group of licensed operators further said that NESREA had unlawfully sealed the base station sites of its members in Abuja, Enugu, Owerri, Ado Ekiti and Ibadan, thereby causing serious network outages and congestion across the country.

ALTON president said, such impulsive disruption of communications service is extremely dangerous to national security, particularly at this trying time in the national history when the uninterrupted availability of telecoms service is critical to the ability of law enforcement and security agencies to respond to the recurrent cases of bombings, armed robbery and other condemnable activities which threaten national security and economy.

Adebayo said, as much as the two federal agencies continue to flex muscle over who controls the base stations in the country, it may be worthy to remind NESREA and likes in the three tiers of government in the country that prior to GSM revolution, they were not closing down base stations, it would be right to ensure due processes in executing these acclaimed mandates.

Conclusion:

Whereas the two supervising ministries of Communications Technology and Environment, keep date with stakeholders by making certain that such controversy does not occur again, even if nothing else, the security and socio-economic implications cannot at this time be quantifiable.

Although in some quarters, it is believed that the bottom-line here for the politicization of base station issues, is the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for these other government agencies, who must really put their searchlight elsewhere and leave the telecom sector for NCC, in spite their claims for environmental protection.

It’s not in any where historically archived that NESREA, for instance, has sealed off Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which is a Federal Government entity, whose mast and cables liter nooks and cranny of this country.

Else, we forget that most infrastructure build out in the country today, most in telecom, are private sector driven, mainly by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and every effort must be made to ensure sustainability of this kind of investment flow; reportedly over 40 Trillion Naira in just a decade, even as operators must adhere strictly to 10 meter radius distance from residences when citing their BTS.

We need the business of base station as much as we need the health of the populace intact, because it’s only a healthy nation that’s a wealthy nation.

Remmy Nweke
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!