Airtel, Spectranet, others may soon raise data prices, airtime tariff

The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, has disclosed that network providers are considering raising the prices of their services in Nigeria.

Adebayo said the increase was necessary due to the rise in the cost of operation on the back of a 40 per cent hike in electricity tariff by the Distribution Companies (DisCos) and an increase in the price of fuel.

ALTON is a group of telecommunications companies comprising MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa, Globacom, 9mobile, Spectranet, Smile and more.

He said the rising cost of operation was a burden on the network providers, and they need to pass the increase incurred from changes in electricity tariff and fuel price to the cost of their services, which includes airtime and data sales.

According to the ALTON chairman, the telecommunications companies are already in discussion with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to review the prices of their services.

“All these changes have had impacts on our industry. You know as an industry, these are parameters that affect the cost of the services we offer, I mean our production cost and when production costs go up, end user prices to go up,” Adebayo said in a report by The Nation Newspaper on Tuesday.

“So, if it gets to that stage, naturally we will also respond to the trend of that issue expectedly because for the industry to be sustaining, prices have to reflect the cost of production,” he noted.

Adebayo said the increase in the cost of energy; fuel, diesel and transport need to be added to the cost of services provided by the telcos, disclosing that it now costs more to transport diesel to base transceiver stations (BTS).

“For the sustainability of the industry, the tariff we charge the consumers will reflect the cost of production, in this case the cost of energy, cost of fuel, cost of diesel, and cost of transport.

“So, expectedly, prices are meant to go up,” the chairman said, adding, “What we are doing at the moment is that we are working with the regulator to follow the guideline on tariff review.”