SAN FRANCISCO, January 11, (THEWILL) – Christmas and New Year celebrations in the rural parts of Nigeria’s south-east states would have been a delightful experience, but for the challenge of poor telecommunications services, findings by THEWILL have revealed.
The five south-east states of Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and Imo are home to republican and enterprising Igbo, many of whom travel far and wide within and outside Nigeria in search of greener pasture.
Traditionally, they massively return to their various country homes during festive periods to celebrate with their family members and loved ones, hoping to remain in touch with their friends, business associates, customers and colleagues (where they reside) while in their villages.
But these hopes, for many, were dashed during the just concluded Christmas and New Year festivities, no thanks to poor quality services for voice call, text massages, WhatsApp and other social media windows across all networks.
A visit to Mbaise, a major community in the heart of Imo State during the festive period, revealed unpalatable experiences of businesses, households, individuals and other economic agents who had to maintain their communication culture in the interest of their business and other social imperatives.
Mbaise consists of three local government areas: Aboh, Ahiazu and Ezinihitte – all highly populated.
People were seen moving from one place to another with their communication gadgets in search of functional network. Our rough checks showed that MTN dominates in Mbaise with about 50 percent market share, followed by Airtel with about 25 percent, Glo – 20 percent and 9mobile – 5 percent.
A common complaint among those who spoke to THEWILL was that subscribers were being charged for services not rendered.
“You make a voice call, the lines hardly connect and most times when they do, you and the person at the other end hardly hear each other and your airtime is running”, laments Joseph Anyanwu, an MTN subscriber.
He said even SMS is not better as some messages are not delivered while some only get to their destinations after the aim and purpose of sending them are defeated.
Felix Okoro, an Enugu-based builder and Glo subscriber, who was in Ahiazu Mbaise for Christmas, told THEWILL that he lost a building contract that he had pursued for months – just because a WhatsApp message to that effect entered his phone two days after it was sent.
“And I have made job and money promises based on this contract”, he said worryingly.
He further disclosed that the owners of the contract, the cost of which he chose to keep private, had to resort to WhatsApp after efforts to reach him on phone proved abortive as his line was not connecting.
A Lagos journalist, Peter Dike (not real name), who was to be making daily contributions to the online platform of his medium, lamented that “nothing can be as frustrating as knowing what to do and not being able to do it due to network challenge.”
Dike, who uses 9mobile data plan for his internet facility, said not even coming to Ahiara Junction, a major business hub in Mbaise (along the busy Owerri-Umuahia road), could make any meaningful difference.
Many had to travel close to Owerri the state capital, some 20 kilometres away, to transact online businesses such as money transfer or payment which, most times, experience serious network congestion.
Those who relied on POS and other alternative payment channels for monetary transactions while in the village were severely frustrated.
Fund raising events, drinking joints, churches where POS terminal was available could not enjoy the benefit of the facility because of poor network connectivity.
The sad news is that the solution to network issues in these rural communities, which have become yearly occurrence, lies between two options neither of which is likely to come any time soon: Either the people reduce their rate of traveling home during Christmas and New Year or the service providers enhance their coverage by providing more masts.
Obviously, the heavy but short-period communication traffic these villages witness during festive periods were not originally considered.
However, operators’ cost-benefit analyses may not favour erecting more masts in areas with low prospects to cover maintenance costs.
Industry experts observe that there are 192 market gaps where there is no infrastructure – electricity, water and good road network.
“It is for government to develop the infrastructure and subsidize these services, especially when it is called ‘universal accesses’,” said Olusola Teniola, national president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in an interview with Business Hallmark newspaper recently.
Teniola said this will boost business activities in the countryside and curtail rural-urban migration which has remained a major demographic challenge in Nigeria’s pursuit of economic development.
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