The Minister of Communications, Bosun Tijani, has rejected calls for a 100% tariff hike by telecommunication providersHe said the 1oo% increase would harm Nigerians who depend on telecommunication services to conduct businessesTijani stated that the increase may be between 30 and 60%, ruling out the call for a 100% hike by the operators
Henzodaily.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has revealed that the planned telecom tariff hike for call, SMS, and data costs may be up 30 and 60%.
The rate is less than the 100% proposed by telecommunication companies.
FG speculates new tariff hike as telecom firms call for 100% increase
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Nigerians to pay more calls, SMS, and data
Tijani said this in a television interview, in which he disclosed that operators’ 100% hike request is not feasible.
If stakeholders adopt a 60% tariff hike, the average cost of calls will increase from N11 to N18.33 per minute, SMS costs will rise from N4 to N6.67, and the cost of one gigabyte (GB) of data bundle will cost N1,667 from N1,000.
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FG rejects telcos’ 100% tariff hike proposal, considers 30-60% increase in call, data rates
The minister stressed that increasing costs by 100% will harm citizens dependent on telecom services, stating that the sector is responsible for the country’s economic growth.
Minister confirms that hike is not 100%
“It will harm our people to allow the MNOs to increase by 100 per cent,” said Tijani.
The announcement comes after telecom operators’ prolonged agitation for tariff adjustments, who say they face a challenging operating environment.
The operators also say they have recorded significant losses since the government devalued the naira.
According to BusinessDay, the communications minister agreed in December that tariffs would increase to sustain the industry.
NCC orders telcos to disconnect 9 banks’ USSD
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reportedly agreed with the operators to reinvest the tariff hike proceeds in developing critical infrastructure in the sector.
The call also comes amid a struggle by telcos to recover a substantial USSD debt owed by financial institutions.
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After USSD code deactivations by MTN, Airtel, others, FG blacklists 18 banks over N250bn debt
The N250 billion USSD debt, which has now been halved, has led to the NCC directing telcos to deactivate the USSD service of nine banks effective January 27, 2024.
USSD codes to become inactive as telcos disconnect banks
Henzodaily.ng earlier reported that telecommunication operators have given notice to disconnect the operation of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) of banks in two weeks over N250 billion debt.
USSD transactions, valued at N1.19 trillion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 252.06 million transactions recorded in the first half of 2024, may be threatened.
The data represents 12 billion daily USSD transactions, and the impending disconnection threatens Nigeria’s quest for financial inclusion.
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Source: Henzodaily.ng