Ericson cleans up Eastern masts

By Osifo Godfrey

Ericsson Nigeria said that it had inspected all mast sites in the eastern regions in order to avoid unwarranted transmitter installation for unlicensed radio stations.

The need for this auditing is coming at the heels of illegal installations of the Radio Biafra transmiter in one of the MTN masts in Enugu orchestrated by one of the contracted engineers in Enugu and Anambra state.

In a statement signed by the Managing Director, Ericsson Nigeria, Johan Jemdahl, it reads; “Ericsson views this incident in an extremely serious light. It is the result of a violation of its process, which permitted access to its mast sites.

“As a result, Ericsson has initiated immediate action to foil any similar attempts. All mast sites in Enugu and Port Harcourt regions have been audited, while FM scanning was conducted.”

The cleanup by Ericson Nigeria was mainly focused on high masts and sites prone to fraudulent and illegal activities. “In addition, the Site Access Process will be reviewed for all employees and third parties. We sincerely regret the unfortunate incident, which violates our Code of Business Ethics and Code of Conduct, contracted responsibilities as well as our company values,” it stated.

An illegal FM transmitting equipment was discovered connected to an outsourced MTN mast, managed by Ericsson, in Enugu in eastern Nigeria. The equipment was immediately confiscated and the authorities were notified.

“A contractor to Ericsson has subsequently been taken into police custody after his involvement was discovered. He has been discharged from his contracted responsibilities with Ericsson.” The statement read.

Meanwhile, the acclaimed director of radio Biafra Nnamdi Kanu, who was arrested on the 14^th October 2015 was released on bail and later rearrested and standing charges for treasonable offences.