By Stanley Iwuoha
Telecommunication operators in the country have called for immediate tariff increase that reflects the true cost of services.
The groups, made the position know through a joint press statement signed by the Association of Licensed Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) released on Thursday.
They appealed to the Federal Government to consider it’s demand and safeguard telecom infrastructure from deliberate vandalism and theft.
They maintained that the call for tariff increase for
calls, data rates was inevitable to save the operators from leaving the market.
The current telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria include: MTN, Airtel, Globacom Limited, Broad-Based Communications Limited, 9Mobile and backbone service providers like Main One Service Company Limited, Fiberone Broadband Limited, and others.
As stated in the joint announcement, the associations emphasized that the development of telecommunications infrastructure necessitates significant investments in network expansion, maintenance, and technology upgrades.
The statement reads in part: “Despite the adverse economic headwinds, the telecommunications industry remains the only industry yet to review its general service pricing framework upward in the last 11 years, primarily due to regulatory constraints.
“For a fully liberalised and deregulated sector, the current price control mechanism, which is not aligned with economic realities, threatens the industry’s sustainability and can erode investors’ confidence.”
They, therefore, urged the government to initiate a constructive dialogue with industry stakeholders to tackle pricing challenges and create a framework that balances consumers’ affordability with operators’ financial sustainability.
The two associations expressed concerns over various challenges in the sector, such as multiple taxation and regulations, high Right of Way (RoW) charges, insufficient electricity supply, and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure.
