Phase3 Telecom denies owing money to central govt over TCN fibre deal

Nigeria's Phase3 Telecom says the company and Alheri Engineering are not indebted to the government to the tune of NGN 27.18 billion over a concession agreement with Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), ThisDay reported. It denied what the newspaper referred to as "erroneous publications" making the rounds in local media, adding that such insinuations are far from true and are intended to obscure the real issues. 

Azeez Adebayo, the director of legal and regulatory services at Phase3 Telecom, said the company and Alheri do not owe the federal government NGN 27.18 billion over the fibre-optic agreement. Adebayo said despite deployment challenges, including multi-year delays in linesmen allocation by TCN and devaluation of the naira, Phase3 asserts that all undisputed payments such as the total concession fee payment, royalties and rental payment for equipment space to TCN are up to date.

Adebayo said that although dilapidated fibre-optics were inherited from TCN, the company has deployed 2,000 km and installed new transmission equipment, alongside the rehabilitation of the existing fibre. He said both companies have invested more than USD 100 million as capital and operating expenditure.

He said the Rights of Way (RoW) issue is obviously an attempt by TCN to resist the harmonisation of RoWs for deployment of fibre cables as agreed and communicated by the National Economic Council (NEC) towards affordable broadband services throughout the country.

He expressed confidence that the companies will be vindicated as it continues to provide affordable and robust services to enable customers and other businesses to use the opportunities that come with broadband.