QoS: Subscribers advised against vilifying telcos

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INVESTMENT Operators have invested over $7 billion in voice and data networks between 2012 and April 2014
Telecoms subscribers in the country have been warned to desist from disparaging the quality of service (QoS) being provided by licensed operators in the country. Speaking in an interview with New Telegraph in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of Swift Networks, Mr. Charles Anudu, said the increase in the demand for data had been responsible for “all the noise about operators providing services perceived as unsatisfactory by the subscribers.” According to him,
“Telecoms is one of the sectors that have transformed the landscape of Nigeria economy in the past 13 years.
It is the same globally.” He said while telecoms companies had invested additional $7 billion in their voice and data networks between 2012 and April 2014, the unprecedented demand for data services had been putting pressures on their network. He said, “For instance, global mobile data traffic grew 81 per cent in 2013. Also, video traffic account for 53 per cent of the global internet traffic.
This is growing even faster in Nigeria, which is still an emerging market and fastestgrowing telecoms market in the world. “Indeed, telecoms firms are really trying in Nigeria but the growth in demand for data services, most especially, is outstripping the networks, putting more pressure on the operators.” According to him, the increase in the number of web-based applications being developed daily is another factor where demand for data is coming in the telecoms sector.
“So, people should stop vilifying telecoms companies and begin to encourage them because Nigeria cannot do without MTN today. This is because MTN network carries more than half of mobile subscriptions in the country,” he said. Anudu claimed that a recent study carried out by Swift Networks showed that “people pay for internet subscription before pay-TV subscription in the country.”
Meanwhile, the declining cost of accessing Internet is also contributing to the number of people accessing Internet on the telecoms networks. He said, “The internet cost is becoming much friendlier in the country because five years ago, a megabyte of Internet capacity cost $1, 480, but today the cost has come drastically to $80. By virtue of this, consumers are more demanding and they remain technologically hungry.”