The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), has said that despite the recent 50 percent hike in telecommunications service tariffs, competition has made it cheap.
Speaking on Tuesday during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Aminu Maida revealed that voice call rate in Nigeria still hovers around N18 per minute since the early 2000s due to healthy competition in the telecoms sector.
He said, “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.
In her remarks, the Head of Public Affairs at the NCC, Mrs Nnenna Ukoha, also told journalists 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 speaking, the Director of the Consumer Affairs Bureau at NCC, Mrs Freda Ruth Bruce-Bennett, gave guidelines on how telcoms subscribers can manage data.
According to her, subscribers should abolish autoplayon social media accounts, block data-draining malware, disable background data usage, and follow other tips to prevent data depletion.