Telecom operators under the auspices of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have again called for upward review of the cost of their service delivery across all networks.
BizWatch Nigeria recalls that in April 2022, the telcos wrote a letter to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in which they called for upward review of the cost of SMS, voice call and data services by 40%.
The ALTON members, who were particularly concerned about the upward review in the cost of voice calls and Short Message Service (SMS), maintained that the harsh economic environment, where the cost of diesel and petrol continues to rise, which he noted prompted telcos to initiate the letter in April, still persists.
Lamenting how the cost of diesel and petrol have made the cost of operations significantly increased, the Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, who expressed the views of telecom operators, warned that urgent steps must be taken to address the issue, which he said, had been raised before.
“We urgently need price review on the cost of telecom service delivery. If this is not done urgently, there will likely going to be more challenges in 2023 for telecom service providers. In order to focus on our core service delivery, telcos no longer handle the processes of building and maintaining of telecom masts. This has been outsourced to infrastructure companies like HIS that spend more money to maintain telecom sites for telecom service providers, which is also impacting on telecom service delivery,” Adebayo said.
The ALTON chief, therefore, called on NCC leadership to consider their request even though it had earlier turned it down.
