Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo is president, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS). In this interview with TOPE TEMPLER OLAIYA, he x-rays the state of the economy and how the President Bola Tinubu-administration and its policies is affecting the telecom sector, among other developing events in the outgoing year.

What is your assessment of the general state of the Nigerian economy?
May 29, 2023 saw the emergence of subsidy removal, that’s fine. Sincerely, a few individuals, I mean powerful individuals, were conning the country’s petroleum sector and it had to stop, which was done by President Bola Tinubu. However, the unification of naira was a mistake the President made. Those two things shouldn’t have come in the immediate succession.
Subsidy removal, yes; but unification of the naira was a big blow to the economy. Subsidy removal will have its effect, yes, we do appreciate that, but to now unify the naira plus subsidy removal that, I think, was a mistake the President made that has given rise to a situation where government now has to drive taxes to make more money. That will lead me to the excise duty of 5 per cent on the telecom sector.

What is your reaction to the 5 per cent excise duty on telecom sector?
We are currently in court and we will still continue to pursue that, because, recently, somebody hinted me that they (the government) may revisit the excise duty tax, which again will spell disaster for the citizenry. I must say that if you remove telecoms and ICT, a lot of people’s business will suffer – that is the only thing we are now leveraging on to showcase ourselves and businesses on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, formerly Twitter and WhatsApp that we are enjoying today.
However, on taxes, they (the Federal Government) should leave telecoms alone, because there are over 40 different types of taxes that are killing the industry. Unfortunately, banks are not helping matters in the telecoms industry, as they owe the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) over N200 billion: A huge amount that the telcos would have spent on network expansion, quality of equipment to deploy their services and all that. Well, unfortunately that’s the economy as I see it.

Recently, the telecoms industry ecosystem was disrupted by media reports that MTN Group was in negotiations with Emerging Market Telecommunications Services (EMTS) – owners of the nation’s fourth GSM operator- to acquire 9mobile’s spectrum. What’s your view about this deal?
We’ve been back and forth on this and I have had to lend my voice on the issue, and again, I will say that MTN is going through the backdoor to acquire that spectrum. I’m sorry, but that’s the sad truth and the regulator shouldn’t encourage that at all, they should keep it open.
However, coming to your question, unfortunately, with just about 6 per cent of the market share, they (9mobile) are not doing that well. For me, I really do not know why they could not recapitalise and why they want another network to acquire them and that another operator (MTN) will now become the dominant service provider. It’s not going to be tidy for the telecoms sector. And in my opinion, it should be discouraged. However, even if the merger and acquisition should be done, the regulator should keep it open.
Again, you may want to ask, why can’t, Glo and Airtel buy it (9mobile) at least they are about, I think one is 20 something per cent and the other about 30 something per cent market share and the regulator should encourage those ones to come to terms with building their network as well.

Considering 9mobile’s debt history, do you think the other MNOs that you made mention of have the liquidity to acquire 9mobile?
They will and they can. Don’t forget that there are some funds from multilateral finance organisations. If they apply, it will be granted, because it’s telecoms and we have the market, we’ve got the subscribers base and we’ve got everything. But for 9mobile, they should at least go to town and recapitalise and then come up again and increase their market shares rather than just having a single digit market share which is too low to play and dominate in the Nigerian telecoms sector, and perhaps, that might be the driving force for the board members to say, look we are still single digit market penetration, so why shouldn’t we just sell out.
But, in my honest opinion, I oppose selling out, they should rather recapitalise, they shouldn’t sell out. But if they are going to sell out, it should be thrown open back to the NCC and I expect the NCC to do the needful.

Some stakeholders believe that, should MTN acquire 9mobile, it will make them more powerful. Do you share in the belief sir?
Very well, yes. They will be too powerful. They will have bigger control of the market and dictate the direction of things in the sector. In their (MTN) early days, they had a lot of funds to play with at a very low interest rate in the 2000-2001 days. They’ve been favoured in a way, because the South African government is ready to assist them as well, plus the fact that multilateral financial organisations are also ready to fund them because of their success stories. But nonetheless, others should not die or go out of extinction because of one particular network operator. They should be encouraged to compete and thrive.
The moment MTN acquire that (9mobile) with their 43 or 44 per cent market share, that means they will have a minimum of about 50 something per cent, and that is half of the Nigerian telecoms market. They’ll have so much power and control over the sector and that means they will be dictating the pace. While I agree it’s a free market, nonetheless, we can’t afford to have one dominant force in this space.
Our President is marketing the country’s economic potential to attract more foreign direct investments, so, it will be wise not to kill the ones available here. We should encourage others to be major players in the sector. Airtel is there also, they have about 20, whatever, percent, the other one (Glo) is also about 20 something percent. Encourage these ones as well to be major players in the sector, they shouldn’t allow only one player to overtake the entire industry, which is going to be a disadvantage to the benefits of the other players.
Aside from that, if you look at Multichoice, I’m sorry, I don’t know if I can talk about that, they have dominated the pay TV sector in the country, and they have made three increases this year alone to their subscription rate. We don’t want to see that happen in the telecoms sector. No! We don’t. They will be dictating the pace because they have the volume and they control more than 50 per cent market share. And that won’t be tidy for the Nigerian telecoms industry.

So, what is your advice to the NCC, in terms of strengthening the operations of the Nigerian Telecoms Industry?
As a regulator that they are, they should regulate and ensure that every Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) competes pretty well within the space and also ensures that the competition is healthy. They should regulate the entire telecoms sector without giving any form of preferential treatment to another at the detriment to the growth and development of others.
Let NCC keep its operations open and be fair to all parties concerned by ensuring that they are transparent in whatsoever spectrum that they want to sell or return or give back to the NCC, so that other MNOs can take advantage of the potential in the market and if possible acquire this spectrum.
For instance, I know that some of them have now started deploying the 5G, though China is already looking at the 6th Generation already, but let’s get ours right first. So, it’s good, let them keep exploring other things, but to acquire another MNOs spectrum is unacceptable. But if the likes of Airtel and Glo say, look we don’t have the money, and then it is good and fine for a takeover. But, it has to be through the right channel and not the backdoor.
Now, ALTON, the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria is now saying if the government decides to introduce any other taxes, we are going to pass it on. Well on the part of the consumers we will stop the government from going ahead to introduce any taxes, because already the sector is faced with multiple taxes.
Anambra is a fantastic state; they have made a law that makes it free with no tax on laying the Right of Way (RoW) cables. All states should be like Anambra. With what Governor Charles Soludo has done, he is encouraging telecom sector to come to the state and invest by giving them economic friendly terms. And I want other governors to emulate that too.

Finally, what is your call to action for the Federal Government, NCC and other stakeholders in resolving this spectrum trade off issue?
First, let them stop harnessing too much from taxes in the telecoms industry. Let the government now expand its tax net, not just by increasing tax policies, but also by getting more people into paying tax. For instance, if we have about 20 per cent of people paying tax now, they should extend it to about 40, 50, or even 60 percent of people to pay tax and they can get more money from there.
The telecoms industry is really suffering, so, to help it gain a good balance, let government declare telecoms infrastructure as a critical national asset. Maybe, it is because NEPA mast is dangerous to their health, that’s why they are critical national assets, so, why shouldn’t all telecom base stations be included as critical national assets. They should do that to avoid poor services and loss to the operators.
Each time, we (NATCOMS) make noise about poor services, ALTON, will say they have burgled our base stations, they have removed this generator, they have killed this and they have killed that. We hear that story all the time, so, the moment they become key critical assets, then it will be protected and service quality of the network operators will be improved upon and will now be enjoyed by the subscribers.