A 40 per cent increase in the cost of calls, SMS and data has been proposed by the Telecommunication companies to the Nigerian Communications Commission as a result of the rising cost of running a business in the nation. Based on their proposal, the price floor of calls will increase from N6.4 to N8.95 while the price cap of SMS will increase from N4 to N5.61.
According to telcos, the telecommunication industry has been financially impacted following the nation’s economic recession in 2020 and the effect of the ongoing Ukraine/Russia crisis. They further stated that this had resulted in an increase in energy costs, increasing their operating expenses by 35 per cent. They added that the introduction of the recent excise duty of five per cent on telecom services had further increased the burden of multiple taxes and levies on the industry.
With respect to voice and SMS cost, ALTON respectfully requests the commission to consider a mark-up approach to address the upward price adjustment desirable for the industry.
The umbrella body for telecom companies added that to further help telcos during this economic crisis, the commission should explore and provide other means of penalising operators rather than punitive monetary sanctions; extend the payment timeline of relevant regulatory levies and fees; prevail on the Federal Government to sign the executive order declaring telecoms infrastructure as a critical national infrastructure to mitigate cost spent replacing damaged and stolen infrastructures, among other things. The body went further to request for an upward adjustment of the MTR by 40 per cent, It said,
“For large operators, new interim MTR of N5.46 from N3.90 reflecting 40 per cent increase in the cost of business.
“For small operators, new interim MTR of N6.58 from N4.70 reflecting 40 per cent increase in the cost of business.”
Source: PUNCH
