Nigerian telecom industry spent N14 billion to fix no fewer than 59,000 fibre cuts recorded between 2022 and 2023, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC also revealed that the industry experienced over 35,000 fiber cuts in 2022 and over 24,000 fibre cuts so far in 2023.
Adewolu Adeleke, executive commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, who stated this at the Regional Stakeholders Workshop on Multiple Taxation and Regulations, added that operators were also denied access to lay their cables in some parts of the country.
The workshop with the theme “Navigating the Landscape of Multiple Taxation and Regulations, Fostering Sustainable Growth through Collaboration” was held recently in Kano.
Adeleke said: “In the same vein there has been over 18,000 denial of access cases recorded in 2022 and over 6,000 cases so far in 2023.
“Statistics of this nature cannot encourage anyone to invest. So we all owe it a duty to tackle this menace once and for all.”
He also identified multiple taxation as a major obstacle militating against sustainable development of the telecom industry in the country.
Multiple taxation was also one of the challenges the operators had to battle in the past years.
Adeleke, who was represented by Efosa Idehen, director, Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC, said multiple taxation and regulations were affecting the growth of telecoms infrastructure on which all other infrastructures making up the digital economy depended.
“This is not referring to legitimate taxes imposed by appropriate authorities following necessary due processes, but the many irregular, often duplicated and sometimes hastily posed taxes and charges which some agencies pursue for short-term revenue gains neglecting the greater long-term impacts of their actions on investor confidence, the socio-economic well- being of our people and overall national economic growth,” he said.
