The
House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Improved
Telecom Service delivery on Wednesday gave operators of
General System Mobile telecommunications a seven-day ultimatum within which to acquire 159 co-location sites in
Abuja , the
Federal Capital Territory .
The Chairman of the
House panel, Mr.
LEO Ogor, gave the order after a joint meeting with the MTN, Globacom, Celtel ,
Nigeria Communications Commission and the Minister of the FCT, Dr.
Aliyu Modibbo.
Also, the committee set up a four-man sub-committee, comprising Mr.
Jerry Manwe, Dr.
Ibrahim Safana, Fancy Arole and Mr. Dino Melaye to liaise with the FCT, the operators and the NCC to ensure compliance.
Ogor said the measure had become imperative to improve service delivery in
Abuja , which ultimately would have ripple effects in other parts of the country.
According to him, poor
Telecom service in
Abuja has become a
National embarrassment, as it creates an image problem for the country because of the experience of foreign nationals in getting calls through to their home countries or within.
Modibbo who attended the session said co-location of masts or
Towers of GSM operators was not
Negotiable , as it was a
Global practice.
He also threatened to pull down illegal sites of one of the operators, which said operators did not need approval of the FCT before mounting
Towers .
But
Ogor quickly intervened, adding that such a measure would complicate
Telecom service delivery in
Abuja .
