. 30 million Nigerians unable to access voice, Internet services
. Nigeria needs 80,000 base stations for quality services
. 9mobile, Smile communications rank low in BTS
infrastructure
By Idris Bakare
With the embrace of telecommunication in Nigeria that has led to 34,033 base stations, investigations have revealed that the Quality of Service (QoS) and Internet of Things (IoTs) threaten the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
Analysts that spoke with SlyNews stated that notwithstanding increased shipment of mobile gadget from China, other countries to Nigeria, it would be difficult for mobile phones and computers to function optimally, low record of base stations currently in the country.
A recent report by Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), stated that total base station as at 2019 stood at 34,033 compared to 30,637 recorded in December 2018 across all states of the federation.
The report stated that MTN in 2019 owned the highest number of base stations standing at 16,796 base stations; while AIRTEL has 8,924; GLO- 7,516; NTEL- 675; EMTS- 120 and SMILE has 2 base stations.
According to the report, top five states with highest number of base stations are Lagos- 5,375; Ogun- 2,122; Rivers- 1,989; FCT- 1,8“26 and Oyo- 1,446 while states with the least number of base stations are: Yobe-244; Zamfara- 248; Gombe- 305; Jigawa 316; Ebonyi 328 and Kebbi- 330.
“However, in terms of BTS specifically for mobile service, the top five states with highest number of base stations are Lagos- 5,375; Ogun- 2,122; Rivers- 1,989; FCT- 1,826 and Oyo- 1,446 while states with the least number of base stations are: Yobe-244; Zamfara- 248; Gombe- 305; Jigawa 316; Ebonyi 328 and Kebbi- 330.”
Further investigations by SlyNews revealed that the quality of service of GSM in some parts of the country is unreliable with its accessibility and retainability unsatisfactory.
Meanwhile, analysts said Nigeria needs at least 70,000 to 80,000 base stations to actualize her dream of joining the club of countries working toward marking IoT a reality by leveraging 4g and 5g networks.
The President of Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, explained that most 3-Generation (3G) base station in the country have been upgraded to 4G in order to accelerate the pace of broadband speeds in the country, most especially in the urban cities.
He stressed that operators focus on areas where they would receive possible returns of their investments, urging government to provide the needed incentives for operators to roll-out infrastructures to rural areas where Nigerians battles with poor quality of service.
According to him, “A lot of 3G to 4G BTS conversions have taken place to accelerate the pace of Broadband speeds available to users in the urban cities and locations across the country where affordability is not an issue.
“The major problem with this is that we have seen a steady rise of those that can afford data services acquiring multiple SIM data devices to be able to have an acceptable level of consumer experience across different networks.
“The challenge as always is that operators will always focus attention in areas where they see a possibility of a guaranteed return on investments. Hence, the flattening out on the total number of BTS deployed and a lack of desire to risk new capital in underserved areas of the country.
“Currently, 114 market gaps exist according to the USPF data and these represent 30 million Nigerians that are unable to access basic voice services let alone Internet access.
“Unless Government provides the much needed incentives to operators to roll-out into those areas deemed too risky for operators to venture then the targets set out in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-25 will be at risk,’ he said
Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Medallion Communication, Ikechukwu Nnamani, said that security crises in some parts of the country have affected the number of active base station in the country.
Nnamani stressed that number of base stations would reduce in the current state of technology, as 5G requires smaller radio that can be put in various places which does not affect service availability to subscribers.
He said: “What is important is that services are able to reach the subscribers across the country from multiple providers. The Regulator rightly took a decision some years back that encourages collocation of radio transmission infrastructure by the operators and this has greatly reduced the number of base stations in the country.
“The security crisis in some parts of the country has also affected the number of active base stations since some were damaged during the crisis.
“The number of base stations as we have previously come to know will reduce the current state of technology. 5G requires smaller radios that can be put in various places including high rise buildings so the traditional cell sites as we know, it will change but that does not mean there won’t be service availability to subscribers,” he stated.
