ALTON calls for revocation of unused frequencies
Jonah Iboma
The Federal Government has been asked to withdraw and reassign idle commercially viable frequencies currently held by some organisations.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said in an interview with our correspondent that the move had become necessary given the high incidence of firms holding such frequencies and doing nothing with them.
Adebayo, who spoke in Lagos on Friday, noted that besides dormant private firms, government needed to review the unused frequencies allocated to some of its establishments.
The call was informed by the fact that many fixed wireless firms licensed since 2003, have not utilised the resources allocated to them.
In 2005, the then Minister of Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, had threatened to push for the withdrawal of licences.
Gbenga Adebayo, who is the General Manager of VGC Communications Limited, said it was not in the interest of the industry for the government to continue to allow such frequencies to be held without being used.
He said that government should immediately commence steps towards recovering such frequencies and reassigning them even if this meant engaging the frequency holders in discussions.
“Government needs to find ways round the problem even if it means returning monies paid by some of the frequencies holders so that they can be recalled and reassigned. The current situation where people are crying about that commercially viable frequencies lying dormant does not do anybody any good,” he said
The Federal Government has been asked to withdraw and reassign idle commercially viable frequencies currently held by some organisations.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said in an interview with our correspondent that the move had become necessary given the high incidence of firms holding such frequencies and doing nothing with them.
Adebayo, who spoke in Lagos on Friday, noted that besides dormant private firms, government needed to review the unused frequencies allocated to some of its establishments.
The call was informed by the fact that many fixed wireless firms licensed since 2003, have not utilised the resources allocated to them.
In 2005, the then Minister of Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, had threatened to push for the withdrawal of licences.
Gbenga Adebayo, who is the General Manager of VGC Communications Limited, said it was not in the interest of the industry for the government to continue to allow such frequencies to be held without being used.
He said that government should immediately commence steps towards recovering such frequencies and reassigning them even if this meant engaging the frequency holders in discussions.
“Government needs to find ways round the problem even if it means returning monies paid by some of the frequencies holders so that they can be recalled and reassigned. The current situation where people are crying about that commercially viable frequencies lying dormant does not do anybody any good,” he said
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