Dr Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, has hinted of the plan to increase telecoms tariff in the country.
The minister however said the hike will not be as high as 100 per cent as being demanded by top telecoms operators in the country, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports.
Tijani spoke on Wednesday in Abuja, the nations capital during a stakeholders’ meeting with Mobile Network Operators, MNOs amidst divisions among telecoms users in the country regarding the timeliness of the proposed hike.
The engagement brought together relevant government agencies, MNOs, consumers right groups, amongst others.
Bismack Rewane, a business analyst says 100 percent hike is too ‘aggressive’, but stated that the increase should also be aggressive enough to cover the operations and profitability of the operators.
Rewane, the Chief Executive officer of the Financial Derivative Company said the hike is necessary as doing otherwise will have a negative outcome for both operators and users.
Tijani said the federal government considered the increase after weeks of robust debates among various telecoms stakeholders in the country, adding the the government will make its approval known to the public soon.
He said, “You have seen over the past weeks that there has been agitation from some of these companies to increase tariffs. They are requesting a 100 per cent tariff increase.
“But it will not be by 100 per cent; the NCC will soon come up with a clear directive on how we will go about it.”
He explained that the government will come up with a new tariff increase that will benefit the operators and consumers of telecoms services, noting that operators need to make returns on huge investments they have made in the sector.
According to him, “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,”
“As a country, over time, we have left these 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. What the world is talking about today is meaningful connectivity; people want to have access to 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.”
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