By Chinenye Anuforo
The telecommunications industry serves as the backbone of modern society, enabling global connectivity, information exchange, and technological innovation.
And so, reliable and efficient communication infrastructure is vital for economic growth in a modern digital age. That is why stakeholders in the industry, have urged the government to prioritise protection of critical telecom infrastructure.
According to them, the government has not taken a strong stand on many complaints of operators on issue of vandalisation and consistent attack on telecom infrastructure.
Specifically, during the West Africa Telecoms Infrastructure Summit and Exhibition (WATISE) organised by Technology Mirror in Lagos, the Managing Director of RS Engineering Global Ltd., Mr Spencer Itive, said the government had been paying lip service with the declaration of telecom infrastructure as critical national infrastructure.
According to him, this lack of commitment from the government has led to a consistent attack on telecom infrastructure across the country.
“We are yet to see the commitment of the government in protecting telecom infrastructure and this is why every community sees the deployment of infrastructure as a favour to the telecom operators,” Itive said.
On the future of infrastructure connectivity, he said all stakeholders in the telecom sector had to understand that no single entity could meet the multifaceted demands of the digital age in isolation.
Itive said a complex tapestry of partnerships now weaves together telecom companies, technology giants, governments and a thriving ecosystem of startups.
He noted that these partnerships would redefine the boundaries of what is possible in telecommunications.
In his own remarks, Mr Mike Ofili, Chief Executive Officer of Coloplus, a tower infrastructure company argued the concentration of most telecom infrastructure in major cities, was as a result of vandalism, insecurity, and high right-of-way charges experienced across the country.
He said that this explained why in several parts of the country outside the three major cities which were Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt many Nigerians were still on 2G networks.
Ofili, however, noted that Right of Way charges were also high in the major cities, especially, Lagos, but operators were able to sustain infrastructure deployment with higher returns from the state.
Speaking on the issues that prompted operators to slow down their expansion into rural areas, ofili said most telcos have to pay through there nose to lay fibre cables.
“I can tell you that 90 per cent of the data centres in Nigeria are in Lagos and I don’t know how you want to achieve 70 per cent broadband penetration in Nigeria with almost all the data centres in Lagos.
“It is very difficult to lay fibre cable across many communities in Nigeria, you cannot cross any community without paying different people.
“You cannot build towers without going through different communities of people demanding all kinds of things,”Ofili said.
He explained that if one do not meet the demands of the communities, they would either not allow you to deploy or vandalise your equipment.
Ofili said there were many states operators could not go to, noting that to lay fiber in those states operators would need heavy security.
He said operators had lost many of their engineers to insecurity in the North while trying to deploy infrastructure.
Ofili, however, noted that to deploy infrastructure in some communities that were considered important,operators had to negotiate with the people and align with them.
Also speaking, Rachael Orumor, the Chief Executive Officer, Sens Orbit Nigeria said that over 20 million businesses across Africa use technology to interact with their clients and potential customers.
According to her, the factors that are driving digital transformation in West Africa is the increasing investment in infrastructure, growing awareness of the benefits of technology and a supportive regulatory environment.
Orumor said that there was limited access to education, especially for people in rural areas, who do not have access to high-speed internet or reliable mobile service.