Due to the present rate structure in the telecom industry is no longer viable, telecommunications operators on Thursday requested the federal government, through the Nigerian Communications Commision, to consider reviewing it.
During a stakeholder meeting in Lagos, Dr. Aminu Maida, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, received an appeal from Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of The Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, or ALTON.
He said that businesses are burdened with 52 taxes across the nation and that pricing reviews should take this into account when operating costs rise.
Our present price structure is unsustainable. That is the truth: given the current state of affairs, I doubt that the industry can be sustained with the existing price structure,” he remarked.
He reminded the operators that the government views the telecom industry as vital to the nation’s economy and called on them to raise the calibre of their offerings and encourage the development of jobs in the industry.
The Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debts owing by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to the EVC, which he stated have already reached N200 billion, were another area he encouraged the EVC to become involved in.
He insisted that the telecom operators be paid in full for the USSD debt and emphasised that the organisation would not think twice about preventing banks that owed money from using the service.
While assuring the stakeholders of his support and dedication to the sector’s growth, the head of the NCC stated that his actions would be guided by President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Agenda and the policy guidelines outlined by Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.
In light of the government’s view that the telecommunications industry is vital to the nation’s economy, Maida called on the operators to raise the calibre of their offerings and encourage the development of jobs in the industry.
