CHINWE IFEZULIKE -ODITA
Mixed reactions have trailed the news that President Bola Tinubu has approved an increase of tariffs charged by telecommunication companies, telcos in the country.
Dr. Charles Ajaegbu, an economist, lawyer and former Managing Director of a commercial bank, said “It’s inevitable, given the massive depreciation of the Naira, rise in energy costs and the increased taxes (specifically VAT from 5% to 7.5%) over the years since their last tariff structure was approved!
These have had heavy negative impacts on their costs of operation!”.
Another industry analyst who prefers anonymity shared his own views thus: “At this austere period, the best the telcom operators could ask for is tariff increase? But do we blame them? Most if not all of them use diesel engines to power their systems.
Question is , how much is diesel today?
“It’s therefore obvious that whatever their net income prior to the hasty removal of the petroleum subsidy would have been substantially reduced hence the quest for this increase. The government cannot claim ignorance of what investors are going through in this country.
“Many have left because they couldn’t cope.
Be that as it may, the tax payers, the poor civil servants and the overwhelming poor Nigerians remain at the receiving end of this beating.Till this moment not all states have agreed to pay the pittance christened the new minimum wage.
“The sheer insensitivity of government towards the citizenry is beyond description. At this point, the telecom providers should consider retracing their steps. Not all cows cry at the point of slaughter so is the case of the millions of wretched Nigerians who can’t speak out nor demonstrate against their ignoble conditions.
No animal can bleed more than the blood it has inside of it. But Nigerians already have bled more than the blood they have inside of them and therefore a consideration related to telcom tariff increase is quite unjust.”
He went on to add that the Government should consider putting some of the money saved from petroleum subsidy removal to mitigate the effects the tariff increase would have on Nigerians.
“The gains of petroleum subsidy removal should be put to better use such as this at least to prolong the life of a dying horse.”
Chief Soji Odedina, the Managing Director and CEO of a foremost BTL company in Lagos sympathized with the telecom companies and said it was inevitable.
“Tarrif increase for telecoms services is inevitable given what is going on with the general economy.”
“As a matter of fact, I don’t believe that the government should play a role in determining how much consumers pay for the services, especially in a highly competitive market like the telecoms’. Quality and value perception, and those “invisible hands of “Adams Smith” are the key drivers in a market that is deregulated and competitive.”
“When Globacom came up with per second billing for instance, the market was forced to adapt from its per minute billing of MTN and Econet of that era”.
“If you take a critical look at the market, the operational costs for companies in that space must have gone up double (diesel to power base stations, salaries, vehicles purchase and running costs etc). Not to talk of spare parts denominated in foreign currencies and more.
“One can only hope that the increase will come with improved services and more innovations to continue to drive improvement in users’ experience.”
Another industry analyst who also opted for anonymity echoed the same thing.
“The increase in telcom tariff is in order. It is consequential to the exchange rate and cost of petroleum products.”
However, another industry analyst was of the opinion that the Federal Government ought to have considered the plight of the already suffering masses. ” Giving that approval shows how out of touch this current government is with the plight of the masses of Nigeria who are already suffering immensely from the government-imposed hardships.
“It’s not as if the “Telecom companies are doing anything out of place because they too are reeling from the exorbitant cost of running a business in Nigeria but FG should subsidize their costs instead of cascading it to the masses who are already bearing too much with the high prices of food, drinks, transportation, electricity, taxes etc.”
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