2nd November, 2015
Ajayi, who is the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that it had not been scientifically proven that rain affected network operations.
He said rain did not affect QoS because of the technology used for telecoms transmission.
According to the ATCON president, telecoms operators use terrestial technology to transmit their services, which makes it unsusceptible to rain.
“Rain affects transmission when you transmit by satellite from the KU-band, but most transmissions by the GSM companies now is not carried by satellite.
“And the ones that are transmitted via satellite are usually not by the KU-band. So it may be incorrect to say that rain directly affects the QoS.
“Most of them are on fibre and rain is not meant to affect transmission on fibre,’’ he added.
The IT expert noted that problems of poor services were as a result of factors other than rainy weather.
“Some of these things could be perception, but I cannot completely dismiss it because rain comes with a lot of its own hazards.
“Thunder can strike and damage equipment; wind can blow and bring down towers. If the base stations are damaged, there won’t be network.
”So apart from the regular hazards that come with rainfall, I don’t think rain is a big problem,’’ he stressed.
Ajayi explained further that rain affected network services when the operators used copper cables, which were usually buried underground.
“It is an easy thing to explain because once water soaks those cables, interference will be experienced,’’ the ATCON President added.