There is a possibility for Nigeria’s mobile subscribers to pay 100% in price of calls and data if the demand by the telecom operators in the country is approved by the industry regulator.
In clear terms, it means that a N100 recharge card would be sold at N200.
According to report credited to Daily Trust, several sources within the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and from within the industry have told the newspaper reporter of the fresh move to review call and data tariffs upward by about 100 per cent.
According to an insider with NCC on anonymity, said telecom operators had been making a case for price increment since the first quarter of this year. He said they complained of rising cost of production and that they could no longer carry on with current call and data prices.
“The costs of expanding capacity and their networks have increased with the devaluation of the Naira against the US Dollars, and most consumers now spend less on telecommunication services, especially voice calls, compared to previous years,” another official at the NCC said.
Most consumers now spend less on telecommunication services, especially voice calls, compared to previous years. In the last 10 years, a drastic reduction had been recorded in call and data tariffs. On-Net and Off-Net per minute tariffs which now stand at N12.01k and N12.64 respectively used to be N24 and N75.30k.
Due to the current economy crisis and the rise in the usage of OTT service like WhatsApp, Viber, Skype over traditional network, telcos have been finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
If NCC agrees to their terms, subscribers will now pay close to N24 per minute and about N2,000 for one gigabyte of data per month, from N1000 currently being charged by most operators
Meanwhile, Deolu Ogunbanjo- President, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has advised NCC not to review the rates for voice and data services upward as the review is not necessary with the present economic situation of the country.
“I don’t think this is the right time to do any upward review. Government and its agencies, and the operators should be sensitive to the plight of the people.
“’They should understand that we are just coming out of recession and subscribers shouldn’t be confronted with this again,’’ Ogunbanjo said.
