Index IntroductionProblems or Obstacles Faced by Telecom IndustrySolutions to Problems Faced by Telecom IndustryConclusionIntroductionWhat is Investment?Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Investing according to wordweb.com is “The act of investing; to spend money or capital in an enterprise with the hope of profit.” This simply means that investing only occurs when you expect to make profits. Profit here can be in any form, it can be cash, social status etc. Investment can only be measured over a period of time. These profits help nations solve economic problems such as lack of infrastructure, poverty, poor education, etc. Economy and technology interact and are the determining factors in telecommunications network design. The optimal bandwidth capacity is determined based on market conditions and the wishes of managers. have flexibility in decision making in response to changes in market, regulatory and technological conditions. When these real options are exercised, management implements the new systems and adopts a pricing strategy for the company within regulatory and market constraints. Telecom managers must make strategic decisions in an increasingly volatile environment where permanent investments in new technologies have become crucial to the growth and satisfaction of customer demand. The factors that currently determine investment decision-making in the telecommunications sector are completely different from those that the sector was accustomed to considering during the early days of regulation and/or government control. What are telecommunications? Telecommunications according to wordweb.com are “systems used in the electronic transmission of messages over a distance”. This includes radio broadcast media, etc. What is an industry? According to wordweb.com, industry is “the organized action of producing goods and services for sale.” Industry in this context means the combination of many companies dealing with a particular niche of products or services. In this report we will mainly deal with the telecommunications sector. The purpose of this report is to ascertain the investment value of telecom companies as a whole in order to decide the appropriate path to take to invest in them. Problems or Obstacles Faced by the Telecom Industry1. Performance Measures: For quality investment decisions to be made in any chosen field, accurate and timely performance measures should be made available and made available to the right people, such as potential investors. Performance is the ability of an organization to acquire and manage resources in different ways to develop a competitive advantage. Performance measures should be an accurate measure of industry performance over a given time frame. These measures are then used as a tool to indicate trends or patterns of success/failure, which could help in making financial decisions.2. Power Availability: The cost structure of operators is equally unfavorable and represents a major drawback in trying to increase capital expenditure in the country. A key component of the telecommunications infrastructure is the Base Transceiver Station (BTS), which essentially connects mobile phones to the network. However, it is important that the government demonstrates its commitment to the projectachieve significant growth in electricity generation and distribution across the country. The real commitment and improvements seen in the energy sector should serve as a stimulus for greater investment in the Nigerian economy. Among those who think it would be difficult for operators to make more investments without a more favorable environment than achievable is currently expensive compared to other African markets due to fuel costs. It is estimated that Nigerian operators spend around $10 billion annually to power their base stations. There is probably no sector in Nigeria that does not suffer from an epileptic power supply problem. The problem has been around for years and we don't seem to be making any progress. Without electricity, there is little or no progress possible in the telecommunications sector. Energy production must be created to augment the existing energy we have. Telecommunications focus on energy and until there is a solution to energy we may never have a quality service. This is an area the new council can work on by creating new power generation channels for telecommunications. Anticipated cost savings should be reallocated to improving and implementing infrastructure for more efficient service delivery to customers. Around 15% of all BTSs in the countries are connected to the electricity grid, which leaves operators dependent on fuel-powered sites. Fuel costs associated with operating BTSs in the country represent approximately 60% of operators' network costs. To put this into perspective, network costs in Nigeria are approximately two to three times higher3. Vandalism of telecom infrastructure: Apart from financial difficulties, the current state of security of telecom infrastructure is not encouraging for any potential investor. Every intelligent and rational investor considers the safety of his assets when making an investment decision. Vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure occasionally occurs by mistake during excavations, but in most cases it is perpetrated through acts of sabotage and theft of equipment. These acts of vandalism are common in rural areas of the country, characterized by high rates of poverty and unemployment. Low living standards and lack of opportunities lead young people to resort to such actions to extort telecom operators. In 2013, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) noted that it had recorded around 1200 fiber cuts in just a few months. Unknown to most Nigerians. , acts of vandalism against telecommunications infrastructure represent a serious problem. About 2%-3% of Nigerian BTSs are shut down at any given time due to vandalism, resulting in a loss of about $50-100 million every year. On the other hand, telecom companies have a high investment value compared to banks because the telecom is not a depository organization and as such is not required to maintain high liquidity, which means that if the bank wants to maintain optimal profitability, it will invest all its funds in long-term assets. The actions of vandals create significant expenses for operators in terms of repair and replacement costs, lost revenue and even “pacification” fees. In conclusion, this shows that the more fluid an organization is, the lower its profitability. So, telecom has higher return on investment, only liquidity conscious investor will invest in bank. Based on the result of the analysis, the researcher made the following recommendations.4. LACK OF SUPPORTGOVERNMENT: In recent times, telecom operators have been attacked by regulators or the government through unregulated fines and tax charges. This does not provide the incentive platform needed for investors to commit more funds to capital expenditure. The history of the telecommunications sector will mirror that of the Nigerian oil industry if an appropriate regulatory and tax structure is not designed and implemented by stakeholders. Telecom companies like MTN in the past have been subjected to some harsh government policies and regulations that have hampered their businesses in one way or another. If these issues are not addressed in the future, we could find ourselves in an even tighter situation. positions regarding the telecommunications sector.5. LACK OF TELECOM INFRACTURE PROTECTION: Protecting telecom infrastructure in the country, especially in remote areas, is a critical need for operators. There has recently been talk of the potential approval of a bill by legislators, which aims to give telecommunications infrastructure the status and legal protection of national critical infrastructure as well as other critical infrastructure such as energy. 6. DIFFICULT COMPETITION AMONG THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES IN THE SECTOR: Delays in investments are also encouraged by market uncertainty due to the current antagonistic context between operators, regulators and government. However, industry experts do not view the situation as an open-and-shut case where they want to invest more money. Some believe that a certain level of transparency and support needs to come from government to ensure operators that such investments do not end up in vain. Investors in the Nigerian economy are no strangers to the uncertainties of these theses, investments worth around 100 billion dollars are made in the oil sector. delayed due to delayed approval of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) according to International Oil Companies (IOCs). Such uncertainty in the telecommunications industry can have a ripple effect for consumers. The United States in the early to mid 1970s was a perfect example of what market uncertainty can do. According to Jerry Hausman, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), regulatory issues have delayed the introduction of cell phones in the United States by 7-10 years. Delay is estimated to cost consumers approximately $31-50 billion (1994 dollars) each year. The bill is a step in the right direction; however, a delay in approval will jeopardize the $25 billion investment in the ICT sector, as well as future investments for the foreseeable future. It is also important to recognize that passing the bill is not enough; awareness and enforcement are the true determinants of the effectiveness of the bill.7. Insufficient telecom masts: Telecom companies should strive to build more telecom masts so as to eradicate black spots from Nigeria. We should be able to receive and call without any hindrance. Telecom companies may decide to share antennas to save costs. These are persistent issues among others that have persisted for years. Telecom is struggling with these problems and this has hindered the improvement of the service. No business would thrive in an environment where resources that could have been used to make systems upgrades are diverted to pay for repairs and debt. The new NCC council should develop parameters to guide theperformance and challenges of the sector. Only in this way will they be able to be informed about the current state of the sector. It just so happens that there are multiple regulations to stifle telecom companies. Some of these regulations should be reviewed and new policies created to address the current problems in the industry. Just as the NCC should work on some of these aspects, telcos should look for mitigating measures to improve their services. The NCC should ensure active enforcement of deactivation of unregistered subscribers. In this way the poor quality of service would be reduced. The NCC should set up channels and distribute base stations, antennas and fiber optic cables to mobile operators to combat mobile blackspots. The challenge of poor service quality in the Nigerian telecommunications sector is not impossible to overcome. All it takes is cooperation between all stakeholders to come together and solve various problems. Solutions to the Problems Faced by the Telecommunications IndustryThe telecommunications industry faces many challenges, which reduce the investment decisions made by potential investors in the sector, but there are approaches and solutions that will alleviate these problems;1. Policy reforms: Previous amendments (e.g. the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003) are outdated as they focus on how voice calls are regulated and not on issues relating to the new technological era. Today the focus should be on competition in the sector, the market and other services to which the telecommunications sector is closely linked, such as finance, technology and media services. The current government has demonstrated its commitment to creating an enabling environment for the private sector to contribute to innovation. solutions to enable consumers to benefit from information and communications technology (ICT)advances. This in turn will bring efficiency and productivity to the telecommunications sector and ultimately improve economic growth. To solve the problem of artificial low prices, the government and regulators must establish a regulated minimum price level. Telecom operators large and small can compete on the quality of the network and customer services they provide. The industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), should ensure that the quality of service provided by telecom operators is improved by placing emphasis on the strength of their signals and the quality of their data services. Customers can also play a role in price regulation by valuing and promoting services that offer the best customer experience and not those that only offer the lowest price.2. Public Awareness: A comprehensive plan is needed to communicate to Nigerian residents the need to protect all critical infrastructure and penalties for breaking the law in the country.3. Government reforms: A well-defined and legally supported tax and regulatory framework is needed to eliminate uncertainty about telecom companies' operations and potential investments. A uniform fiscal and tax framework across the nation that has legal backing is needed. This would protect operators from accusations of exploitation and the creation of new unbudgeted taxes/fees. Ultimately, a properly designed tax and levy framework will increase the positive perception of due process in the industry. As a result, investor confidence in the environment will be improved, which in turn will increase the likelihood of increased capital investment in the sector.4. Industry diversification:?.