Telecoms tariff hike may not exceed 60%, says minister

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, yesterday hinted that tariff hike to be approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) should be between 30 and 60 per cent threshold.

Tijani said the ministry would not approve 100 per cent hike, stressing that it would be a burden on the people at a time the economy is coming up. The minister, who said this, noted that final decision on the hike is still based on the outcome of Sustainability Report conducted by KPMG and Simon Cooper, which according to him, should be made public anytime soon.

Speaking on ChannelsTV Politics Today (yesterday), he said the ministry is doing everything possible to ensure Nigeria experienced improved connectivity across all devices.

Tijani said he’s engaging the industry to ensure that all players within the layers contribute their quota to developing the country.

While assuring that services will also improve when tariff is increased, the minister said operators will not be allowed to take Nigerians for granted.

He however, informed that the operators are going through a lot in ensuring services are up and doing, infrastructure are in place, noting that telcos still face issues of vandalism, theft, rising energy cost, foreign among other challenges in the country.

According to him, the mobile network operators (MNOs) are crtical to achieving Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy by 2030. “This is the reason why we must encourage them to invest. The telecoms sector is critical to attaining that target.”

Speaking on the broadband sector, Tijani noted that foreign direct investments (FDIs) would not be enough, stressing that local operators need to also invest. He said this to say that the Federal Government is committed to investing $1 billion in ensuring the successs of the 90,000km fibre project, which according to him, should begin by Q2 into Q3, 2025.

According to him, the 90,000km fibre project has also received backing from the World Bank and other international organisations.