Abuja, Nov. 18, 2023 – Telecom operators in the country may be forced to increase their tariffs if banks refuse to pay the N200 billion they owed members.
Mr Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said this on Thursday when his members met with Dr Aminu Maida, the new Executive Vice Chairman of Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC).
He urged Maida to intervene in the payment of the debts.
According to the association, the debts, which currently stand at about N200 billion, were incurred by banks for failure to pay for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services.
Adebyo said the association would not hesitate to block debtor banks from accessing the service any longer.
Adebayo said the current tariff regime in the telecom sector was no longer sustainable for members.
He said the tariff review would be considered in view of the rising operational costs, adding that operators were over-burdened by the 52 taxes imposed by governments across the country.
“Our current pricing regime is no longer sustainable. That is the fact, with the way things are going, I am not sure we can sustain this sector with the current pricing regime,” he said.
While responding, the NCC boss assured ALTON of the support of the NCC, but said it was important to put timeline on resolutions reached at meetings.
He also assured all the stakeholders of his support and commitment to the growth of the sector.
Maida promised that his actions would be guided by the Renewed Agenda of President Bola Tinubu and the policy guidelines as enumerated by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani.
Maida said that the government should see the telecom sector as critical to the economy, and urged the operators to improve the quality of their services as well as boost job creation in the country. (GBN)
