April 26, (THEWILL) – Telecoms operators in Nigeria have called for cost-reflective tariff in view of extant economic realities.
The appeal is subsequent to earlier request by the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), for the federal government through the regulatory agencies to consider tariff increases by digital mobile telecom network operators, MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile for calls and data.
The operators are seeking to prompt the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to expedite action on the facilitation of tariff hikes.
In a joint statement on Thursday, ALTON and the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), urged the government to take decisive action in addressing the numerous challenges confronting the telecommunications industry.
The statement co-signed by Gbenga Adebayo; chairman, ALTON and Tony Emoekpere, president, ATCON, said “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.
“ATCON and ALTON call upon the government to facilitate a constructive dialogue with industry stakeholders to address pricing challenges and establish a framework that balances consumers’ affordability with operators’ financial viability.”
The telcos also said regulatory neutrality and independence are crucial to ensuring a thriving telecommunications sector.
“Statutory provisions lend credence to this notion, as a lack of an impartial regulator will lead to a failure to maintain public confidence in the objectivity and independence of its decisions”, the statement added.
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