Russia, you are increasing the cost of everything! Yes, “Nigerian telecom operators are reportedly planning a 40 percent tariff hike that will affect the cost of data, calls and SMS. The Vanguard reported the imminent increase citing reliable sources.” I smile because someone somewhere will go to court to block it. Hello, DStv playbook is always available: the status quo must be maintained and price cannot be increased.
Seriously, I hope the telcos are not thinking of increasing prices by 40%. With the record numbers the two publicly traded ones are reporting, there is no reason for that price increase. Doing that would be unfair.
I am a capitalist but anyone who tells you that telcos need to jack up prices to survive is lying. I look at the margins these companies are holding, and am unable to see a justification for the white lies. The healthiest sector in the Nigerian economy is the telecom sector. It needs to make money but hitting the customers with 40% more would be an own-goal.
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Nigerian telecom operators are reportedly planning a 40 percent tariff hike that will affect the cost of data, calls and SMS. The Vanguard reported the imminent increase citing reliable sources.
According to the report, the telcos’ move to increase tariffs was necessitated by the high cost of diesel to operate their businesses, incessant harassments and frivolous taxes and levies imposed on them by all manner of agencies from the three tiers of government.
The rise in oil price has pushed the cost of diesel to above N700 per a liter, compounding the telcos’ operational cost. Other issues such as the cost of Right of Way (RoW), which is among the reasons why poor networks have persisted around the country, apparently influenced the move.
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So, what exactly are you suggesting, they should keep the price same, or increase slightly, or look for alternative revenue sources? Because your treaty did not leave any conclusive point.
We don’t need to wait for the telcos to see red in their balance sheet before we can grudgingly ask them to increase rate. They cited many things: cost of diesel, harassment from various tiers of government, and right of way issues. Can we support them by jettisoning or reducing the last two, which are absolutely within our control, so that there won’t be need to hike tariffs?
We cannot be that irresponsible and callous to leave businesses to their fate, yet grumble and fight when they jack up rates. We want coverage to be everywhere, why can’t we forfeit ROW charges and mandate telcos to extend coverage everywhere, since digital economy is something all Nigerians should benefit from? Something is definitely wrong with our thinking.
The telcos have proposed tariff hike, now we can tell them what we are going to help them with, so that everyone will go home happily after.