konknaijaboy | On 02, Sep 2014

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, is set to shut down GSM operations in the state any time from now as a result of new levies on telecoms services.

Obiano in a bid to raise its internally generated revenue (IGR), imposed a N750,000 levy per telecoms base station in the state.

According to an online news medium, s new base stations are to be levied N700,000 each before operation, while a fine of N1 million will be levied on every defaulting base station.

The combined revenue from the levy on the four major service providers from the one-off levy is estimated at N1.5billion.

The levy is called “Telecommunications Mast Installation/Approval Permit” and is to be applied retroactively to existing base stations.

The operators, who have not complied with the new directive, currently pay other levies, including planning permit fees, tenement rate and advertisement signage fees to the Anambra government.

Telecoms companies have been complaining about multiple taxes and excessive levies across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

If Anambra shuts down the stations, there are gross economic and commercial implications for a state where Nnewi and Onitsha, two of Nigeria’s biggest commercial centres, are located.

A demand notice was issued to the telcos last month by GeoSonic Nigeria Limited, revenue consultants to the state government.

It was gathered that the telcos have made efforts to meet with Obiano over the impending closures without success.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com