Revenue loss: FCTA okays comprehensive audit of telecoms masts in Abuja •We face double taxation –Operators

THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is to conduct an audit of all telecommunications masts installed in the territory, in a move to block evasion of ground rent payments by the telecoms operators and to boost its internally-generated revenue from the sector.

The administration said it observed that the number of such masts installed in the territory did not correspond with the revenue generated from the sector.

This came as the administration lamented that most of the telecommunications masts in Abuja were installed in unapproved locations.

Already, the administration, through its Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), had held a meeting with management of the telecommunications companies operating in the nation’s capital.

Addressing representatives of the telecommunication firms at the stakeholders’ meeting, the acting coordinator of AMMC, Hajiya Safiya Umar, threatened to sanction any telecommunications company that failed to get approval from the relevant agencies of the administration before erecting its masts, and warned that telecommunication companies that failed to pay the ground rent would equally be sanctioned.

The AMMC boss lamented the manner in which telecommunication masts were installed on public schools premises, and observed that such posed serious danger to students and teachers of the affected schools.

Responding, however, representatives of the telecommunications companies accused the administration of double taxation.

They, however, assured that the radiation from the masts was not harmful to human life.