Residents across kogi state, may have to continue to endure GSM Network failures for more than expected as the Government and MTN management have held to their guns without deliberate effort to resolve the imbroglio.
Recall that the hardliner position by the kogi state Government and the Management of MTN, has created untold hardships for network subscribers who have bitterly lived with epileptic services for the past three weeks.
Speaking to Journalists on Friday, on the reasons for the melee, the Kogi state Infrastructural and Utility Management Compliance Agency, (KIUMCA) said it shutdown the operations of Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) for alleged non compliance with its extant laws.
Hon. Taufiq Isah, the head of the agency, said upon assumption of office at the agency, he discovered that the MTN has not been complying with the law for over two years.
For peace to reign, he said, he invited the management of the network provider for a meeting to resolve the grey areas
He said one of the bones of contention was the kilometres of optic fibres it laid across the state.
The Director General said the network provider claimed that they had just little over 130 kilometres of fibres in the state but during a joint field operation by the officials of the agency and MTN, it was discovered that the network provider has over 400 kilometres radius of the state.
He explained that all efforts made by the agency to have an amicable resolution of all the issues against the service provider proved abortive because the MTN, according to him was not prepared to do the needful.
Hon. Taufiq said that as a responsible agency, they were left with no other options than to approach a court of law to obtain an order to seal the company as a way of enforcing compliance.
He said other network service providers have complied and they are fully in operations in Kogi state, assuring that the MTN services would be unsealed as soon as they do the needful.
However, in shift reaction by a credible source,within Mtn who pleaded anonymity, because , he is not permitted to speak on the issue , dismissed the claim of kogi state government, saying , the claim of 400 kilometres of optic fibres laid by MTN was far from the truth.
The source who expressed disgust over the adamant posture of the government in series of negotiations, stressing, that MTN will continue to push for amicable resolution and urged the government to consider the interest of subscribers who have lost substantial investment and social dislocation.
