13 July 2022

Nigeria's telco industry and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for more governmental support and more advocacy from its umbrella body, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), after it was revealed that over 568 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) licensees have become inactive.

Speaking during the panel session at the Telecoms Sector Sustainability Forum organised by Business Remarks media platform held on Thursday, July 4 2022 in Lagos State, Micheal Ayoade, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Dotmac Technologies, tasked ATCON for more advocacy as regards issues militating against their survival and growth in the industry.

Ayoade argued that ISPs are charged a higher rate than others for Right of Way in most states. Using Lagos State as an example, he said  operators pay a cheaper rate compared to ISPs, who are charged ten times more than the agreed N145 per meter rate linear for RoW.

“Collaborations among ISPs is important but not very straightforward because each Internet Service Providers determine their price structure through cost incurred, keeping manpower and other business risks,” he said.