The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has lauded the Federal Government’s plan to erect Seven thousand telecommunications towers in rural areas.
The President of ATCON, Mr Tony Emoekpere said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday , that it would improve communication services and bridge the digital divide.
Emoekpere said that erection of telecoms towers in rural areas would have a positive impact on network services across the nation.
He said it would broaden communication services to underserved areas.
The president while commending the initiative, said that sustainability should be the guiding principle.
‘’We welcome every effort that is being made to improve communication services, we just hope that the Federal government engages partners to ensure they are adequately deployed.
’’Sustainability should be the guiding principle, when you deploy this kind of infrastructure, like I said, the sustainability is what we should be looking at.
‘’Who is going to run it? How is it going to be maintained? How is it going to be generated? These are issues that need to be addressed,” he said.
According to him, returns from rural areas may not be as much as the urban areas but government’s erection of towers in rural areas can make it attractive.
On the challenges of implementing the project, Emoekpere said there is need for adequate existing operators on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
He noted that the association believed that adequate partnership with the industry remained crucial to sustaining the project.
The president said that similar projects had been initiated in the past but had not been sustained due to the lack of adequate partnership with the industry.
“So if there is adequate partnership, this should be sustained, there are many projects that have gone like this. Even all the way from the beginning of the new democracy we are talking about,” he said.
NAN recalls that the Federal Government on Feb. 27, announced plans to build seven thousand communication towers in rural areas to expand access to telecommunications services and improve digital connectivity across the country.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani disclosed this after leading Airtel executives on a visit to President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Tijani said the government remained committed to ensuring that all Nigerians, especially those in underserved areas, have meaningful access to quality telecommunication services.
He said the decision to invest in rural infrastructure aligned with the administration’s broader goal of improving digital inclusion and economic opportunities for all citizens.
‘The priority for this government is meaningful access, We do not want our people to just have access to telecommunication services; we want it to be of high quality.
‘’That is why the NCC has been working thoroughly to ensure that we shift the focus not just to quality of service but to quality of experience.”
The minister explained that the approval for construction of the seven thousand new towers was granted by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, as part of a broader strategy to bridge the digital divide.
He said the investment would complement the ongoing deployment of 90,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cables across the country
