MTN, Airtel, Glo, Others Consider Tariff Hike

Telecoms operators including MTN, Airtel and Globacom have pushed for cost-reflective tariff in view of extant economic realities.

This was contained in a statement released by the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) on Thursday. The statement was co-signed by ALTON’s Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo; and ATCON’s President Tony Emoekpere.

The telcos urged the government to take decisive action in addressing the various challenges confronting the telecommunications industry.

The telcos added that telecommunications infrastructure development requires substantial investments in network expansion, maintenance, and technology upgrades.

“Despite the adverse economic headwinds, the telecommunications industry remains the only industry yet to review its general service pricing framework upward in the last (11) years, primarily due to regulatory constraints.

“For a fully liberalized and deregulated sector, the current price control mechanism, which is not aligned with economic realities, threatens the industry’s sustainability and can erode investors’ confidence.

“ATCON and ALTON call upon the government to facilitate a constructive dialogue with industry stakeholders to address pricing challenges and establish a framework that balances consumers’ affordability with operators’ financial viability,” the statement partly read.