Since the emergence of the mobile telephony in the year 2001,combined subscription has inched close to the 30 million mark,even as more subscribers are warming up to sign up.The potential is still enormous,given the fact that total population under the licensed territory (Nigeria) is about 140 million people.

We can now connect to the world without the endless waiting and shoddy services that characterized the pre -Gsm era,when Nitel's monopoly held sway.Despite all the rapid expansion and coverage in most cities nationwide,however,the issue of quality of service seems to be the albatross of the mobile phone operators.

The quality of mobile phone services is one of the most discussed topics outside politics and energy.Even the newly inaugurated senate had already held a debate on it.While the national regulator,the National Communications Commission has reinforced the importance of providing high quality services to subscribers,the situation seems to be getting worse by the day.

NCC also initiated the consumer outreach and consumer parliament to resolve subscribers frustrations,with subscribers forming associations and even going further to advocate service boycotts in protest against poor service delivery and in some extreme cases,initiating court cases against mobile operators.In the midst of the allegations,accusations and claims by operators and subscribers alike,what the entire population failed to look at are some genuine complaints of Telecoms operators.

Sometime ago, MTN (a leading operator in Nigeria)alerted the public to the malicious damage being done to its facilities.Important components of mobile telephony technology are the radio equipment,which are mounted on towers and masts all over the towns and cities.Also,fiber optics cables carry traffic crisscrossing the national boundaries,while some of the longest cables in Africa are located here in Nigeria.

Recently,subscribers experienced massive degradation of services across all the networks and despite all efforts,the problem appeared to be beyond the engineers.Most service disruption are directly linked to vandals and community agitators.In many instances,workers and subcontractors are denied access to the base stations sites to service power generators and other equipments.In some extreme cases,fiber optics are unearthhened and severed,while diesel theft and generator vandalism are commonplace.The irony is that it was the communities that have now turned vandals that once clamoured for the base stations to be sited in their areas in the first place.

Most of the demands of the communities are not unrealistic,however,they ask for multiple payments for properties already acquired,road construction,powering of host communities and even scholarships for their children.These are not the duties of companies that pay all forms of taxes to governments at all levels.Though some of the activities of the telecoms operators do affect the environment negatively,care should be taken to ensure strict compliance with environmental regulations,curb noise from generators and should also prevent diesel spillage and used engine oil from polluting their host communities water source.

community empowerment programmes can be implemented by engaging locals as site security,civil repair works and immediate remedial repairs whenever their activities impact on the communities negatively.Mobile operators should also leverage on sites where some basic infrastructure that can support their services exist.They can leverage on the branch network of banks and as they roll out new branches by making provisions for tower erections on the property on a rental basis.Newly licensed Visafone and cellcom with close ownership with one of the leading Banks in Nigeria,Zenith can test this model for its roll out plans.This offers faster roll out and reduces cost significantly.

Implementation of integrated maintenance of cell sites will also reduce the frequency of site visits for maintenance purposes.Increasing the storage tanks for diesel will greatly help in reducing frequent top-up visits,which seems to be a lucrative target for community extortion.

With communities and vandals taking their toll on the operations of the mobile operators and the high cost of subscriber acquisition in the face of keen competition,it is only natural that subscribers will be at the receiving end through poor services and high tariffs.

Just like crude oil production where you need a maze of pipelines to deliver contents,likewise the telecommunications services too.The base stations might look like a stand-alone installation but operationally they are inter-connected and linked with many others elsewhere and when one goes down,it might lead to disruption of services or near collapse in a locality. So,when next you try to make that important call and it does not connect,it does not mean that MTN,CELTEL,GLO,Muilt-links Telkom and Starcoms are not alive to their responsibilities,it may mean that vandals had just done their worst with the installations.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
okoegwale_igho@yahoo.com