ASSESSMENT OF COLLOCATION PRACTICES AMONG GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY IN ONDO STATE

Abstract

This study assessed the collocation (network infrastructure sharing) practices of three global systems for mobile communication (GSM) companies that practice collocation on IHS Towers Nigeria in Ondo State. These are Airtel Nigeria Limited, Etisalat Nigeria Limited (9 Mobile) and MTN Nigeria Limited. The study examined the types of collocation among the GSM firms; investigated the factors influencing infrastructure sharing among the GSM firms as well as assessed the effect of collocation on the performance of the firms. Data were obtained through a survey technique with a wellstructured questionnaire; administered on one hundred (100) respondents with a response rate of 85%. Descriptive statistics and appropriate inferential statistics were employed for data analysis. The study revealed four forms of collocation practices by the GSM operators. These are active, passive, spectrum and sharing by tower companies. However, the sharing of infrastructure by tower companies was found to be the highest (33.67%) among the companies. The study further showed that; the major influencers of collocation practices among the companies are high capital expenditure (High CAPEX), government policy and loosed security at cell site because of many collocates. The multi-linear regression analysis of collocation effect on the performance (market share) of the GSM companies showed that the performances of all the GSM operators are affected by collocation practices. Specifically, network infrastructure sharing leading to reduction in capital and operational cost (β=0.624; p≤0.01); the promotion of cooperation among competitors due to infrastructure sharing (β=0.562; p≤0.05) as well as collocation arrangement by independent tower companies which helps GSM firms to deploy network coverage faster (β=0.453; p≤0.01) significantly effect on the market share of the firms.