The Chairman of the Association of Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga Adebayo, has called on the federal government to license and regulate over-the-top services such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype amongst others to increase revenue generation.
He stated that over-the-top services are not part of services for which operators are licensed and that since they are not regulated, there is no limit to the scope of what they can do or content they can provide.
Mr Gbenga noted that although telecom operators were charged annually, they were only licensed to supply voice and data services.
The rise in the use of data services has seen a major decline in the use of calls and text messages for communication. More people are switching to the use of WhatsApp, Skype and other messaging platforms for communication. Thus, the Association is advising the federal government to license and regulate these services to increase revenue.
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