Etisalat Nigeria will become the third telco to announce possible shutdown of network operations due to current scarcity of petroleum products in Nigeria.
Yesterday, MTN with more than 50 percent of Nigeria’s pool of subscribers and Airtel announced they may stop operations if the situation does not abate. Both claiming their fuel reserve may not last them the next 24 hours.
The United Arab Emirate-based telecommunication service provider announced some minutes ago via its Twitter handle: “[The] prolonged situation threatens our ability to re-fuel all our sites and thus negatively impacting service.”
https://twitter.com/etisalat_9ja/status/602738978417147904
Telcos operating in Nigeria rely heavily on Diesel (and other appropriate petroleum products) to power their base stations because the public power infrastructure is unreliable. Since the beginning of 2015, electricity generation has dropped by more than 60% from 4,800 megawatts in January to an all time low of 1,327 megawatts as at May 22, 2015.
Globacom, the Nigeria-owned telco is the only other major mobile network operator yet to announce possible disruption in services.
Image via: imgbuddy
