The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) says telecommunications companies (telcos) will commence the full introduction of new tariffs in March.
On January 20, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) approved telecommunications companies (telcos) to implement a 50 percent tariff hike.
Three days later, Wale Edun, the minister of finance, said that telecommunications tariffs would be reviewed regularly.
Speaking to the media at a roundtable with telecom executives, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON, said the telcos would issue rates in different ways and are presently submitting, vetting, and gaining regulatory permissions.
“So we are now following what is called the regulatory requirement, regulatory steps of filing, review and obtaining approvals,” Adebayo said.
“As soon as those approvals come through, different players will introduce new rates as the time comes.
“I’ll say over next week, we start seeing some improvement in the prices.
“Over the next month, we should start seeing some total introduction in what the new rates will be like, but it’s important that we’ve come to a point where what has to be done has to be done for the sector to survive.”
Also, Adebayo said the tariff adjustment is essential for the survival of the telecommunications sector, stressing that the government should not rely on the sector to subsidise others.
“The other side of it is that the sector cannot be the subsidy for other sectors,” he said.
“So you can’t say because cost of garri and pepper and okro has gone up, we now have to subsidise people’s living by providing services that are sold at lower than cost. It’s a matter of time before we start seeing the negatives.
“I think it is important that we need to charge rates that are sustainable and we can’t stand as a subsidy for the problems of people in other sectors, which is not the problem caused by the operators.
“Government cannot outsource that problem to their network operators to solve for the public.
“The government needs to provide adequate palliatives to help people live, and our services cannot be used for those palliatives.”
