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By Chinenye Anuforo
Former special assistant to Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, former chief executive officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Barr. Ayoola Oke, has said that over 90 per cent of home-grown telecoms operators may go into extinction within the next five years.
The ICT legal and regulatory expert, who spoke to newsmen on the issues affecting local operators in Lagos recently, said the bigger telecoms operators were suffocating the local ones.
Oke described the industry as subdivided into three tiers, with Tier 1 for big network operators mobile network operators (GSM); Starcomms, MTS 1st Wireless, Intercellular, Startech and the likes belonging to Tier 2; and smaller operators such as Internet service providers, PNLs, International Data Access Service Providers, Swift Telephone networks, Rainbownet and the likes for Tier 3.
He further stated that almost all the operators that were active and vibrant 14 years ago are now dead or struggling, leaving the Tier 2 space almost empty. In addition, he noted that Tier 1 operators face no competition or incentive to improve.
He said none of the local operators in Tier 3 have been able to grow to become Tier 2 operators because they are dying, and the country would be left with a Tier 1 oligopoly, if the home-grown operators eventually die out.
The former special assistant cited the instance of bigger operators asking smaller operators to pay for termination rate in dollars rather than the country’s legal tender, the naira, leading to their disconnection.
