Telecoms subscribers beneath the aegis of the Affiliation of Telephones, Cable TV, and Web Subscribers (ATCIS) have kicked towards the demand by telecoms operators to extend tariffs on their providers.
The group, which spoke on the weekend throughout a press convention in Lagos, referred to as on the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) to not settle for the decision for telecoms tariff enhance, as demanded by telecoms operators, insisting that such a hike would carry an extra burden to telecoms subscribers.
Telecoms operators beneath the aegis of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), had written to the NCC, asking for a 40 per cent hike in voice and information tariff, to allow them to deal with the excessive value of delivering telecoms providers throughout the nation.
Although the NCC has not reacted to the demand, ATCIS members have referred to as on the regulator to not take into account such demand, which they stated, could be inimical to telecoms development.
The Nationwide President of ATCIS, an advocacy group, Mr. Sina Bilesanmi, stated that subscribers would resist the advised hike in telecoms tariff and referred to as on NCC to show down such requests within the curiosity of subscribers.
In accordance with Bilesanmi, the press convention was organised to handle rising points within the telecom business, particularly the relentless clamour by telecoms operators to hike the tariff of providers throughout the board, together with name and information tariffs.
“ATCIS-Nigeria, the one main telecoms subscriber advocacy physique, is anxious that this strident name right now is most unwelcome. We see it as most insensitive as it would impoverish telecoms subscriber members extra given the realities on the bottom.
“Whereas we perceive the business faces challenges, together with rising operational prices and the necessity for infrastructure funding, we imagine this enhance locations an undue burden on customers, a lot of whom are already scuffling with the present financial scenario. The telcos have blamed the rising value of diesel for powering their base transceiver stations (BTS) as one of many main causes for the present clamour for tariff hikes. However these aren’t sufficient causes to extend tariffs,” Bilesanmi stated.
“We are saying no to any hike with out the correct session with shopper advocacy our bodies similar to ATCIS which have over 200 million membership power throughout Nigeria,” he added.
Bilesanmi stated it was apparent that the federal authorities and the NCC ought to have put some infrastructure and good insurance policies in place for them to have a working enterprise atmosphere.
He nonetheless stated the telcos shouldn’t resort to delicate blackmail to get the approval of the NCC to hike tariffs.
NEC member of ATCIS, Deacon Simon Oladipopo, suggested telecoms operators to not switch the burden of managing telecoms providers onto harmless subscribers.
Nevertheless, Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has debunked studies that the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) has accredited tariff will increase for telecom and web corporations.
Experiences claimed that the NCC’s new tariff took impact on July 29, 2024, that means Nigerians pays extra to make calls and browse the web. The report added that NCC orders that “each subscriber should be on a tariff plan, and no subscriber might be on multiple tariff plan at a time.”
