The Nigerian Communications Commission has explained that competition has made the country’s telecommunications service tariffs remain relatively cheap despite the recent tariff hike.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Aminu Maida, disclosed this at a media engagement in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to him, the voice call rate in Nigeria has still hovered around N18 per minute since the early 2000s due to healthy competition in the telecoms sector.
“But today, even with the 50 percent, up to 50 percent increase, which, by the way, not all of them did. Right now, I’m inundated with complaints that, oh, this person is refusing to retire the old tariff, or that person is trying to undercut you. It’s about 18 Naira.
“I think the most expensive is about 18 or 19 naira per minute. So in the early 2000s, we were 15 Naira. Today, the maximum is 18 Naira. That’s competition at work.
He assured that the Commission would scale up rules and enforcement to encourage competitiveness, including adequate disclosure by operators in the country’s telecoms industry.
“But like I said, we can’t scale that approach of rules and enforcement. So what are we doing to complement that? We are adopting a strategy of information disclosure.”
“And this is based on behavioural economics, driving that inner spirit of us where we are competitive. Who here likes to carry last? Not even one person. Who here likes to carry first? Second? Third? So we need to let Nigerians know all our operators, who is second, who is third, and who is first, second, and third,” he said.
Maida also hinted that the NCC, in collaboration with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, would revise the Nigerian Communication Act 2003 for the improvement of the telecoms industry.
On her part, Mrs. Nnenna Ukoha, Head of Public Affairs at the NCC, stressed that the commission is passionate about driving sustainable development and growth and creating value for subscribers and the country’s economy.
“NCC is passionate about driving sustainable development and growth, creating value for subscribers, and contributing to the economic growth of our nation.
“While implementing all these laudable transformative policies, you are the ones that transmit them and convey them to the people of Nigeria,” she stated.
Also, the Director of the Consumer Affairs Bureau at NCC, Mrs. Freda Ruth Bruce-Bennett, gave guidelines on how telco subscribers can manage data.
According to her, subscribers should abolish autoplay on social media accounts, block data-draining malware, disable background data usage, and follow other tips to prevent data depletion.
