Stakeholders worry over poor telecoms services

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, who was the chairman of the occasion decried the frustrations of the telecom consumers in trying to make calls. He called on the telecoms operators to act fast before the situation deteriorates to an unbearable level.
The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the state government ,Mr.Udom Emmanuel expressed dis-satisfaction over the poor quality of service delivery in the country.
He said: “For every drop call, subscribers will always hinge it on poor network. This is fast becoming more popular because Nigerians love talking and they prefer to buy recharge cards to anything.”
He noted that the telecoms industry has done fairly well but that data is the new direction now and in order to reach the grass root, telecoms or telephony must be used to achieve such objective.
Akpabio called for resuscitation   of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to create more alternatives for phone users as well as giving them options on the choice of networks.
Responding the Executive Chairman of the NCC, Dr Eugene Juwa said the operators are being engaged to live up to expectations of consumers, pointing out that NCC was tackling the problem.
 He said the commission is putting pressure on the operators to make sure that their networks meet up with Key Performance Indicator (KPI) set up by the NCC to monitor networks functionality and delivery.
 The Minister of Communications Technology Mrs Omobola Johnson disclosed that efforts are being put in place to address various challenges confronting the operators.
According to her, the problem of Right of Way and Multiple taxes by states and local governments are being resolved to facilitate infrastructure roll out by the operators.
Johnson who made a presentation tagged “Transforming a Nation with Broadband: Telecom as an instrument for sustainable development” said broadband internet is a necessity for any nation who wishes to develop.
The Minister said:”Broadband transforms lives and Nations. It will boost the country’s GDP, create jobs, create connectivity and save lives.”
Also, the Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi said there is need for the rural areas to be considered when thinking of broadband deployment.
The governor “most Nigerians are in the rural area and when thinking of infrastructures, think more of the rural area. As a state government, we strongly desire to bring broadband internet to every village and farmstead in order to bring all to the fore.”
In the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer, Main One, Ms Funke Opeke explained that the only way to ensure that broadband is achieved is for the regulator to ensure that there was infrastructure sharing and collaboration among operators.
She said this would also help to bring down tariffs.
The Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Wilsher added that there ought to be a team work within telecoms operators to achieve sustainable broadband in the country.
Wilsher however said that tariffs are still high because Nigeria is not a cheap place to do business. This, he said, is also one of the reasons why quality of telecoms service is still an issue here.