They claimed that they were allegedly charged 10 times more than licensed operators for Right of Way in most states of the federation. They said in Lagos, licensed operators were paying a cheaper rate compared to ISPs, which are reportedly charged 10 times more than the agreed N145 per meter rate linear for RoW.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Dotmac Technologies, Mr Micheal Ayoade, ISPs lack unified backup to fight their cause and push for the agreed rate from state governments and taxes demanded by the Federal Inland Revenue Service. He added, “Collaborations among ISPs is important but not very straightforward because each Internet Service Providers determine their price structure through cost incurred, keeping manpower and other business risks.”The Managing Director for MangoNet Integrated Technologies, Mr Tony Emoekpere, explained that the ISP sub-sector was too fragmented to scale up.
“You don’t have to own all the infrastructures to provide service. In Orlando, there are just three major ISPs. Foreign companies are taking advantage of this market because they understand the value of collaboration with key players and their area of strength.”