Subscribers under the aegis of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers have rejected the planned 40 percent tariff hike by telecommunication operators.
They vowed to oppose the telcos’ move to introduce a new price regime for data, calls, and SMS.
The consumer group said at the current state of the economy, it was insensitive for any organization to consider a tariff increase.
The President of the association, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, stated that the association is against any move by the government to increase the prices.
He added, “Presently, about 71 million subscribers cannot make calls. They shouldn’t task subscribers. The telcos might have been able to absorb some of the increases they complained about if they have not been losing subscribers.
“If everything were good, the telcos would have been able to absorb some of these shocks. The SIM-NIN policy is largely to blame for the loss in revenue in the telecom industry. A lot of prior losses to the policy are to blame too. We cannot allow the telcos to increase the tariff prices. They shouldn’t be thinking of this now.
“For us, it is the Federal Government and the Minister of Communications that the telcos should focus on. For instance, they should be pushing for a three to six months extension so that barred subscribers can make calls for instance. This will at least increase their revenue stream again. The telcos should focus on the Federal Government.”
