Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has announced that telecom tariffs will soon rise, but assured Nigerians that the increase will not be the full 100 percent currently being proposed by telecom operators.
The Minister made this statement during a stakeholders’ meeting with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He explained that consultations and discussions are ongoing to determine a fair and acceptable rate. He also reassured the public that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will approve the new tariffs soon and make the details publicly available.
“You have seen over the past weeks that there has been agitation from some of these companies to increase tariff. They are requesting for 100 per cent tariff increase.
“But it will not be by 100 per cent. We are still looking at that study and NCC will come up with a clear directive on how we will go about it.
“We want to strike the balance as a government to protect our people, but also protect and ensure that these companies can continue to invest significantly.
“We need to ensure that as a sector, we get our acts together, ensure that from the regulation side, we put the right regulations in place that can ensure the growth of this sector.”
The Minister also highlighted that the Federal Government would no longer rely solely on private companies for infrastructure investments in the sector.
“As a country, over time, we have left this investments in the hands of the private sector. They typically invest where they can see returns in the short to medium term.
“We will not want this conversation to just be about tariff increase. I think what the world is talking about today is meaningful connectivity.
“You want to have access to very good quality service.
“A part of it that the consumers may not be aware of is the investment that needs to go into the infrastructure that is used to deliver these services,” he said.
Dr. Aminu Maida, the Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, stated that the purpose of the meeting with stakeholders was to discuss the sustainability of the industry.
“We have looked at all of these factors, and that is why, like the Minister said, it is not likely that we are going to approve 100 per cent tariff increase.
“I know that Nigerians are agitated to hear the exact percentage approved. There is still some stakeholder engagements that we are going through, but you will hear from us within a week or two.”
He stated that the NCC had implemented various tools and instruments by updating its quality of service regulations to ensure compliance with service quality standards.
He also mentioned that MNOs are required to adhere to simplified templates that clearly display the charges for voice calls per minute, SMS, and data usage per megabyte for Nigerians.
“We are moving away from the regime where you will have a main rate, then you will now have a bonus which is at a different rate.
“It makes it often complicated and difficult for Nigerians to actually understand what they are being charged for.
“This is one of the things when we took a lot of time over the past year looking at data there is this agitation that the MNOs are stealing our data,” he said.
The CEO of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, represented by Femi Adeniran, the company’s media spokesperson, emphasized that in order to maintain the telecom’s commitment to providing superior connectivity and promoting digital inclusion, a tariff increase is necessary.
“The economic realities of rising operational and capital costs, necessitated the proposed tariff adjustments.
This is aimed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector while unlocking significant benefits for Nigerian consumers,” he said.
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