‘Telecoms industry under threat’

The Nigerian telecommunications industry is under looming threat as a result of the economic situation in the country, a House of Representatives panel heard yesterday.

Speaking during an investigative hearing by the House Committee on Telecommunications, the Managing Director of Smile Communications, Godfrey Efeurhobo, said if nothing was done quickly; it could lead to a total collapse of the industry.

The committee, chaired by Rep Saheed Fijabi (APC, Oyo) demanded to know why Smile was part of the operators that sacked some of its staff in the last one year.

In his response, Efeurhobo said the action was necessitated by the hardship in the country’s economy, which also affected the company, saying the whole industry was now under danger as a result of the economic recession.

“It goes beyond right-sizing. There’s a looming threat in the industry,” he said, adding that the sacking of staff was just a symptom of the challenges facing the operators.

“There are countries like India that are looking at tax break for the telecoms operators. Some of the challenges have to do with foreign exchange. The laying off is just a symptom of the hardship going on in the industry. I appeal to the House to come up with palliatives for the operators,” he said.

But Fijabi tasked them to come up with proposals on palliatives for the House to act on, saying; “it’s you that know what you want from government. Private sector should engage legislators so that we’ll know how to go about it.”

Meanwhile, the committee directed Hauwei to ascertain the names of its seven staff said to have been sacked because they were involved in unionism.

The Deputy Managing Director of the company, Osita Uweze, said they would look into the matter and report back to the committee next Wednesday.