The federal government and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on Thursday, May 9, maintained different positions regarding plans to increase telecom tariffs across all networks in the country.
While the MNOs insisted that a hike in telecom tariff is inevitable given the realities/outlooks of the present economy, the government maintained that the planned increase is not an option.
The MNOs were unanimous in their submission that unless the government desired the epileptic power supply situation in the energy sector to become the fate of the telecom industry, the government would continue to block the hike on telecom tariff.
The federal government position was articulated by the Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani at a function attended by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, Aminu Wada Maida, and the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, amongst other government officials.
On the side of the MNOs were the chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, the Executive Vice Chairperson of Globacom, Bella Disu, the CEO of 9Mobile, Juergen Peschel, and the CEO of Airtel Nigeria, Carl Cruz.
They all made the submissions at the presentation of the GSMA-Nigeria Digital Economy Report and Preview/round-table by stakeholders at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.
The minister told the gathering that a hike in telecom tariff is not an option, and should not be the only solution to the challenges facing the telecom industry, insisting that the government was aware of the challenges and would address them step by step.
Tijani said: “I have noted all the challenges as articulated by all critical stakeholders. I have an appointment to see Mr President and I will discuss the challenges with him. But a hike in telecom tariff is not an option and should not be the only solution on the table.
“We appreciate the importance of this conversation and we will continue with it so that we arrive at solutions that can drive the industry to the benefit of all.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Minister outlined steps taken so far by the present administration to deepen the growth and development of the digital economy sector, saying the telecom industry remains the backbone of not just the sector, but all other sectors in the country.
He called on the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics to quickly undertake a rebase of the economy to determine the contributions of the digital economy sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, saying the government is targeting about 22 percent contribution to the GDP.
He said that given the enormous resources in Nigeria and the size of its population, it had become imperative for the government to embark on diversification of the economy to enable the country to compete favourably in digital space as Nigeria cannot afford not to tap from digital technologies.
He expressed government commitment to improve infrastructures for the telecom industry, to address multiple taxation, Right of Way (RoW), security of infrastructures, ensure improved quality of services, and close access gaps through increased broadband penetration.
Tijani said: “You’ve probably also seen, with the support of our partners worldwide, we’ve had sleepless nights, putting together the opportunity for us to accelerate investment in our fibre optic network, which is a major target for this administration.
“We believe that in the next two to three years we can indeed deliver on the 90,000 kilometres of fibre network that is required.
“We believe that if we can deliver it as a country, the sector in itself can become a provider of the same set of services across our region. Nigeria can power the fibre network in Niger, the Republic of Benin and so many other countries in West Africa.
“And we believe with investment in fibre optic networks and telecommunications services, perhaps can we leapfrog from 2G to 5G, and so on.”
The Minister regretted that digital information assets have been provided by the government for over 1, 000 education institutions across the 36 states as well as over 1,000 assets for the health sector and markets, but only about 30 percent of the assets are connected for use by intended consumers.
In articulating the positions of the MNOs, the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Toriola urged the government to look critically at the economic indices in relation to inflation and wonder why the government would shy away from the facts and figures.
“The truth of the matter is that you have to consider the cost of other services in relation to our own ecosystems. The people in the beverage industry review their costs almost every month, the cost of diesel and alternative energy has skyrocketed, and even the prices of food stuffs, including garri have gone up. So how do we operate in isolation?
“Tariff hike is an ecosystem issue that has to be addressed urgently if we are committed to attracting investments to the industry. As things are now, the outlooks are not attractive or encouraging. You can go and verify the performances of the sector in the Stock Exchange market”, Toriola said.
In her remarks, the Executive Chairperson of Globacom, Bella Disu emphasized the need for further conversations on the challenges facing the industry. She said the telecom sector has significantly contributed to the development of the economy and should not be bogged down by multiple challenges.
In his remarks, the EVC of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida said he has been piloting the affairs of the NCC with special attention to the availability of data, saying he believes that access to credible data can help to address most of the challenges confronting the industry.
Maida said the NCC would amongst others undertake the review of licensing instruments and regulations to improve the quality of services, asserting that the Commission would continue to encourage stakeholders’ conversations to address challenges in the industry.
