Bauchi LGA seals Airtel, MTN offices over non-payment of ‘hiked’ advertising fees

Officials of Bauchi LGA have shut offices operated by two telecommunications companies, MTN and Airtel Nigeria, over an alleged non-payment of advertising and signage fees.

The local government is located in Bauchi, the state capital.

TheCable understands that the local government had increased advertising and signage fees to N7.5 million from N5 million — much more than what a telco pays to the entire 20 local governments in the state.

This implies that if other LGAs adopt the N7.5 million fee by Bauchi LGA, a telco would be paying N150 million as advertising and signage charges — a development likely to affect the operations of telcos in the state.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had noted that the telecommunications industry is one of the sectors that helped the economy exit recession in the fourth quarter of 2020.

In the first quarter of 2021, the economy grew by 0.51 percent with sluggish growth in the telecommunications sector — posting a single-digit growth rate since Q1 2020.