Emma Okonji
Telecom operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have again called for upward review of the cost of telecom service delivery across networks.
The operators, who are particularly concerned about the upward review in the cost of voice calls and Short Message Service (SMS), said the review became necessary in order to maintain quality service delivery in a harsh business environment, where the cost of diesel and petrol continues to rise.
Chairman of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, who expressed the views of telecom operators in a telephone interview with THISDAY, warned that urgent steps must be taken to address the issue, which he said, had been raised before.
“We urgently need price review on the cost of telecom service delivery. If this is not done urgently, there will likely going to be more challenges in 2023 for telecom service providers. In order to focus on our core service delivery, telcos no longer handle the processes of building and maintaining of telecom masts. This has been outsourced to infrastructure companies like HIS that spend more money to maintain telecom sites for telecom service providers, which is also impacting on telecom service delivery,” Adebayo said.
Telecom operators had earlier in April this year, written a letter to NCC, and called for upward review of the cost of SMS, voice call and data services by 40 per cent.
In the letter, they expressed their worries over the negative impact of the economic and security issues on the Nigerian telecommunications industry, which they said, had adversely affected the cost of telecoms service delivery across networks.
Adebayo told THISDAY that the harsh economic environment that prompted telcos to initiate the letter in April, still persists, adding that the cost of diesel that powers Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) has continued to rise and affecting service delivery.
Adebayo said the telecom sector has remained the only sector where delivery cost has been static without any form of increase since inception of the rollout of telecom services in 2001, even though other sectors of the economy have continued to increase delivery cost.
He therefore called on the telecom industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to consider the request of telecom operators for an upward review of the cost of telecom service delivery.
NCC had earlier turned down the request for the proposed upward review of the cost of telecom service delivery, insisting that no tariff increase will be effected by the operators without due regulatory approval by the commission.
