50% Tariff Hike: Subscribers to challenge NCC’s decision in court

The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has said it would challenge in a court of law the Federal Government’s decision to allow telecoms operators increase tariff by 50 per cent.
The President, NATCOMS, Mr Deolu Ogunbanjo, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos said that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) did not carry it along in the arrangement.
Ogunbanjo said that NATCOMS understood the dilemma faced by the telecommunications industry and had suggested a five per cent to ten per cent marginal increase in tariff.
He said that the approval by the federal government for telecoms operators to hike tariffs but capped at 50 per cent maximal increment was unacceptable.
“This will affect everyone from the biggest industry to the smallest company, such as the Point of Service (POS) operators.
“It will increase operational costs,” he said.
According to Ogunbanjo, earlier, economic experts had x-rayed the telecoms sector and said that it was in intensive care, meaning that it needed to be attended to.
“We now depend on telecoms for our meetings, for the banks, everybody depends on it even the education sector, yes, a lot of things depend on it.
“So, that is why we painfully agreed that, look, a moderate or marginal five per cent to 10 per cent increase will be fine.
”You know, we do not mind an increase if it is to salvage the industry that is helping us, that means so much to us and that is also contributing double-digit to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
“So, we appreciate that. It’s painful, but we granted. We said, okay, we will not mind if it is just five per cent to 10 per cent increase,’’ he said.
The NATCOMS boss stressed that, if the operators really needed funds, they should explore the Nigerian Exchange for options to raise funds.
“The industry operators can opt for an Initial Public Offer (IPO) for Nigerians to buy shares in their companies as a way of raising funds.