Sale of towers will create more jobs-Airtel

By Emeka Oparah

In the aftermath of the news that mobile telecommunications operators are planning to sell off their towers, not outsource as some media reports have erroneously suggested, there’s been a rash of commentary. These reports have tended to speculate an unsubstantiated claim that the sale of these towers would lead to loss of jobs.

The Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, in a recent conversation with telecoms reporters not only debunked the speculation but painted a different but rosy picture totally contrapuntal to what some of the misinformed analyses have claimed.

Indeed the sale of towers is currently the trend globally, and as the Mr. Ogunsanya told his guests, it is meant to allow operators concentrate on their core competences and allow those who are better equipped professionally to manage the towers to do so. Indeed, one of the major GSM operators in Nigeria has sold off its towers in several African countries. It is a known fact that Airtel had already outsourced its network operations to experts like Ericsson and Huawei, who in turn outsourced maintenance services like fueling, cleaning and security to local companies known in industry parlance as ISMs. The current move to sell the towers will complete the transition and position the operators for greater focus on their core competencies.

From the above narrative, it is evident that the eco-system of the telecoms business is growing a wide value-chain, which has Nigerians (locals) at the epicenter. The way, the CEOs of Airtel and MTN and most of the top executives in all four GSM service providers are proudly Nigerians! They are most certainly working in the interest of their businesses and the interest of Nigerians and Nigeria. It is, therefore, a no brainer that more jobs would be created rather than lost, given that the new owners will definitely like to grow their businesses.

Not too long ago, the telcos outsourced their Call Centres to BPOs. I dare say it is an inexactitude to say jobs were lost! On the contrary, the number of people employed in the Call Centre business has grown exponentially by over 300%. Aside from several young people recruited and (still being recruited) and more Call Centres being established, more businesses have adopted the Call Centre system of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Many of our banks and insurance companies now have Call Centres or Customer Care Agents taking feedback from customers and dealing with complaint resolutions. Interestingly, these banks and insurance companies have had to resort to these Call Centres now run by the BPOs, which took over from the telcos.

The former CEO of Airtel Africa, Mr. Manoj Kolhi promised the erstwhile Minister of Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, during his maiden visit to Nigeria after the Bharti-Airtel acquisition of Zain Nigeria, that the Call Centre business would create a boom in employment in the Nigerian economy. And that’s already proven prophetic! Two of the BPOs working with Airtel Nigeria, Spanco and Tech Mahindra, recently launched ultra-modern Call Centres in Abeokuta and Ibadan, respectively.

Back to the subject of selling the towers, some commentators are getting it totally wrong by expressing such unfounded fear of job losses. Roll back to the early 1990s, when companies like Cadbury dabbled into the uncharted waters of outsourcing, there was a loud hue and cry about loss of jobs. Then, drivers, security men, cleaners, gardeners, restaurant staff and such like, were outsourced and new opportunities opened up for smart people with business sense. Today, cleaning, security and restaurant operators are successful men and women in the country because business is good and growing!

So, rather than create fears in the minds of our Engineers, who will be moving to these Tower Management companies, and disaffection in the hearts of Nigerians, who have been unapologetic beneficiaries of the GSM revolution started in 2001, The Punch should be highlighting the immense advantages inherent in this strategic business move by the telcos.

There is a lot of cheering stories coming from the telecommunications sector. Recently, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, was quoted to have proudly announced that telecommunications now contributes 8% of Nigeria’s GDP, second to the Oil sector. The sector has attracted over $20b FDI in the past 12 and a half years of the launch of GSM in Nigeria.

On another note, the industry is perhaps the only one which has continue to creatively take advantage of a combination of economic factors including technology, competition, outsourcing, and other economies of scale, to drive costs down hence price of telecommunications services and related products like phones and other devices. Telcos have remained consistent in cost reduction and price reduction. Popular products like TomTom and Gala have taken several price increases over the past five years, while the cost of calls, SMS and devices have, conversely, dropped many times over.

The telecommunications industry has demonstrably employed more people directly and indirectly since 2001. The marketing communications industry, construction, security, petroleum marketing and several others have experienced a boom with the activities of the telcos. Indeed, telecommunications can be described as the goose that lays the golden egg in the Nigerian economy. Hence, we should protect the industry and encourage the players while also pointing out pitfalls, which are bound to exist.