The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed mobile telephone operators in the country to jerk up data tariffs with effect from December 1.
Yesterday, MTN sent messages to its customers announcing that there would be an increase in its data tariffs on December 1. “Dear customer, please be informed that from December 1, some MTN data tariffs will be increased to reflect the new rates set by the NCC to operators,” the short message from the telco read.
Nigerians are slamming the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC for ordering major telecoms firms in the country to adopt a data price floor for internet services.
NCC in a report directed that the new (interim) price floor for data services will now be 0.90k/MB for “big operators."
It gave five reasons for re-introducing the price floor, which was first introduced in 2014 and suspended in October 2015.
The reasons are:
- Some service providers were actually pricing their services below cost, a situation which could spell doom for the industry.
- Dominant Operators in the wholesale leased line market, who also operate in the retail market embarked on massive predatory pricing, a conduct capable of substantially lessening competition.
- The removal of floor price for data resulted in eroding value in the market.
- The need to safeguard investment and ensure growth, development and sustainability of the telecoms industry.
- It is important to maintain the integrity of the network as operators lack capacity to accommodate the volume of transaction on their network.
“It is in recognition of the above that regulatory intervention is required and has become a veritable tool to facilitate competition and create a level playing field between competitors.”
Here are what Nigerians are saying about the new rate which MTN and other operators have scheduled to start December 1st , 2016.
