2017: ‘Nigeria would have lost Etisalat to indebtedness’

The year 2017 was not short of surprises as this was the year telecommunication company, Etisalat Nigeria became so indebted that the center could no longer hold, its partners and financial buddies together. This was the year the telecommunication regulator, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) tagged the Year of the Consumer. AYONI M. AGBABIAKA reports some of the events

 

Etisalat Nigeria

Top among the issues and events of 2017 in the Information and Telecommunications sector was inability of Etisalat Nigeria to pay back a loan of N541 billion to its financial creditors.

Etisalat Nigeria had been under pressure since 2016, following the demand notice for the recovery of a N541.8 billion ($1.72 billion) loan facility it obtained from a consortium of banks in 2015.

The loan, which involved a foreign-backed guaranty bond, was for the mobile telephone operator to finance a major network rehabilitation and expansion of its operational base in Nigeria.

Unable to meet its debt servicing obligations agreed since 2016, the consortium, prodded by their foreign partners, threatened to take over the company and its assets across the country.

But the intervention of the telecom sector regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and its financial sector counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), persuaded the banks to rethink their threat and give Etisalat a chance to renegotiate the loan’s repayment schedule. However, power had to change hand as the telecommunication operator gave way to 9Mobile.

 

Year of the Consumer

 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in March in the year under review launched the “Year of Telecom Consumer” campaign programme designed to give concrete expression to the centrality of the consumer in the telecom ecosystem. Deriving life from items 2 and 6 of the NCC Management’s 8-point Agenda launched February 27 2016, the declaration of year 2017 as ‘Year Of Telecom Consumer’ was meant to focus on the needs and satisfaction of the Nigerian telecom consumer.

According to NCC, the Quality of Service (QoS) had deteriorated beyond what was permissible, particularly the drop call rate which was quite high by the last quarter of 2016. Having received a barrage of complaints from consumers and having undertaken studies to confirm what the consumers have said to be factual, the NCC was galvanized to institute processes to check the deterioration.

The key components of the campaigns for the Year of Telecom Consumers included: Creation of greater awareness on Quality of Service; Facts on Electromagnetic Fields Radiation; Do Not Disturb (DND) Code 2442, which consumers can use to stop unsolicited text messages; and the NCC’s toll free line – 622 – through which consumers can reach the Commission in cases where service providers fail to resolve their complaints.

NSCDC partners NCC on Telcos infrastructure

NCC and NSCDC Sign MOU on Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure ProtectionAlso in the year, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Security and Civil

The signing of the MoU between NCC EVC, Prof. Umar Danbatta AND THE NSCDC boss, Abdullahi Muhammadu, was the climax of sequence of meetings, visitations and serial discourse between the two organizations that will see greater security and protection provided for telecommunication facilities by the NSCDC’s department of Critical National Infrastructure Protection.

Vandalism and theft of telecom infrastructure and facilities have been central recurring challenges to the attainment of the parameters defining the applicable quality of service standards for specific services in the telecommunication industry in Nigeria.

As part of the efforts of the commission to halt the criminalities associated with telecommunication service provision, NCC organized 6 Zonal Sensitization Workshops for Agencies in the security sector to deepen the understanding of each agency’s role in curbing the crimes undermining the quality of service in the telecom sector.

 

NIPOST reform

The communication stream also witnessed a move to reposition Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) to become economically viable and leveraging on technology.

The Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu had tasked the National Assembly to expedite action in passing the Postal Reform Bill and other related bills pending before the legislators meant for restructuring the nation’s postal flagship.

To achieve the reformation drive two documents; Restructuring and Modernizing Nigerian Postal Service and NIPOST Vision 2020 was launched just as a steering committee for NIPOST reformation was inaugurated.

The reform according to the minister of communications will unbundle NIPOST to profit driven subsidiaries such as; NIPOST Digital Financial Services Limited (PostBank); NIPOST Property &Development Company Limited; NIPOST Transport and Logistics Limited; NIPOST Merchandizing Limited (e-Commerce); and NIPOST General Services Support Limited (e-Government).

 

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