The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has urged the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to stop indiscriminate closure of their base stations.

Mr Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the association, made the plea at a press briefing on Wednesday in Lagos.

Adebayo said that Federal Government should prevail on NESREA to observe the due process in handling telecommunications facilities.

He said that the disruptions, being experienced in the telecommunications industry, were caused by the increasing spate of NESREA's interference with the installations.

"These impulsive closures cause serious negative impact on Nigerians whose lives and livelihood increasingly depend on the 100 per cent availability of the telecommunications networks," the chairman said.

He said that the disruptions were worrisome, given the current security challenges in the country.

According to him, all telecommunications and other installations must comply with extant laws regarding environmental safety.

"To achieve this, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has articulated and enforced regulations on the installation of masts, towers and other telecommunications facilities.

"NESREA has continued to assert conflicting jurisdictions on this matter, carrying out arbitrary and unjustified closures and demobilisation of such infrastructure," Adebayo said.

He said that NESREA had unlawfully sealed the base station sites of ALTON members in Abuja, Enugu, Owerri, Ado-Ekiti and Ibadan, causing serious network outages and congestion.

The ALTON chairman said that over six separate operators shared common infrastructure in some of these sites.

He said that the activities of NESREA had severely impacted on the quality of service delivery to subscribers.

Adebayo said that extant laws required NESREA to obtain a court order before sealing any offending installation.