As subscribers’ anxiety on the implementation of the 50% tariff hike on telecommunication services continue to mount by the day, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has confirmed that the implementation of the adjusted tariffs will begin next week with full implementation by March this year.
The National Chairman of the telecommunications operators’ umbrella body, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, who gave this hint said the telcos, which are currently filing, reviewing, and obtaining approvals from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), would issue their different tariffs and commence the implementation next month.
The industry top player said: “We are now following what is called the regulatory requirement, regulatory steps of filing, reviewing and obtaining approvals.
“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”, Adebayo added.
The ALTON chairman described the tariff adjustment as essential for the survival of the telecommunications sector, adding that the government should not rely on the sector to subsidize other sectors of the economy.
He further clarified: “The other side of it is that the sector cannot be the subsidy for other sectors. 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”, the ALTON chief stressed.
It would be recalled that the NCC with the authorization of the Federal Government approved a 50 percent tariff hike for the telcos on January 20 this year, being the first of such adjustments since 2013.
Since the approval was announced, many telecoms subscriber groups, including the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) and of recent, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had been clamouring for the suspension of the tariff hike implementation due to what they termed the potential negative impact on subscribers nationwide.
