Stakeholders must resist all barriers to telecom operations, development - ALTON

ITRealms:

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has urged Nigerians and stakeholders in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to resist all barriers to telecom operations and development, reports ITRealms.

Chairman, ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo gave this charge at quarterly seminar by the Nigeria ICT Reporters Association (NITRA) on the “Impact of Over-Regulation of Telecoms Industry on Service Quality’ held in Lagos at the weekend, advised stakeholders to eliminate and remove all barriers to telecom operations and development in the country.

He also said that stakeholders must work towards according telecom infrastructure as the protections of critical national socio-economic infrastructure and the requisite protection to the industry by ring fencing telecommunications from the influence of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

ALTON chairman, equally advocated for the continuous debate on whether stakeholders should regulate technology or service.

He noted that access to telecommunication is access to global world, life and prosperity, hence, several studies have shown that a nation’s economic development depends on its overall progress in the ICTs sector and companies the use ICT grow faster, more productive and more profitable than those that do not.

He described regulation as an abstract concept of management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends, stressing that another definition is a law, rule, or order prescribed by authority, especially manage conduct of players, whereas, over-regulation is the excessive application of various rules and regulations.

Adebayo said that Quality of Service (QoS), is the comparison of expectations about a service with performance, saying that an industry with high service quality will meet customer needs whilst remaining economically competitive.

Emphasising that when technology is regulated, it entails regulation of the base / bottom line infrastructure, such as. GSM, LTE against, CDMA against Fibre and Fixed Network.

He maintained that when service is regulates, the content and over the top service such as Phone call and text messages over the internet, Facebook, Yahoo, Whattsapp, BB messenger and the like. While under-regulation will lead the chaos and high security risks, over regulation will limit the use and application of dynamics of modern technology and also limit access to global trade and knowledge. 

“We must continue to debate these issues in order to guarantee the sustainability of our technology development,” he said.

In his address, NITRA president, Mr. Emma Okonji, said that the contribution of the telecoms sector to the Nigerian economy, is immense, and cannot be over-emphasised, but the issues with multiple taxation and regulation are becoming sources of worries to telecoms operators and industry stakeholders.

“It is our belief as telecoms reporters, that over-regulation of the telecoms industry could stifle growth of the Nigerian telecoms sector that has been adjudged as the fastest growing market in Africa and the world,” he said.

Okonji further said, as watch-dog of the society, NITRA has a duty as telecoms reporters to protect the gains of the industry and it is for this reason that NITRA thought it wise to bring together, the government, the operators and the subscribers, to find a common ground where the issue of multiple regulations and taxes could be addressed amicably, in the interest of subscribers and for the continued growth of the sector.

Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops

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