Two days ago, the Nigeria Minister of Communications gave the go-ahead for Telcom companies to increase their tariff by almost 100%.
What does 100% tariff increase mean for you?
- Increase in call tariff: That means, if you were paying N10 per minute before, it’ll double to 20 naira per minute.
- Increase in SMS cost: If SMS before was N4 naira, it’ll become N8 naira per message.
- Increase in data plans: If you were paying N18k for 1 month for data, prepare to pay N36k per month.
Why is this happening? Why the increase?
Well, simple answer is the economy.
A more detailed one however is not so simple.
The last time Telcos increased tariff prices was in 2013. That’s 12 years ago.
For context, in 2013:
- Goodluck Jonathan was still President
- Petrol price was N97
- Dollar was N160
- Bag of rice was N12,000
- Lagos to Abuja flight was N25,000
- Man Utd was still a serious club 😣
From that time till now, Telcos’ tariff has remained the same and every attempt to get an increment has been rejected by the Government and regulators.
In 2018, 2022 and 2024, they tried to get an increase of 40% but it was rejected.
Last year, the Ministry of Communications now came out to announce new Telcom Quality Regulations (QoS Regulations 2024) and setting a 50% service target with a fine of N5 million naira for those who fail.
In simple terms, the Ministry mandated them to achieve a 50% improvement in their service in the next one year.
Which means, they had to improve call quality, data speed, network availability by 50% and reduce dropped calls by 50%.
Dropped calls mean number of “hello, hello, I can’t hear you” instances that lead to call drops.
They are also to submit reports on the KPI at the end of the year.
Those who don’t meet the 50% service target will be fined N5 million and an additional N500,000 for each day the issue continues.
So the Telcos said look, if you’re going to set this kind of target, you have to allow us to increase our tariffs to be able to achieve this.
Because, to ensure connectivity everywhere costs money. But we’re still charging the same tariff since 2013.
So, the government has now decided to allow them increase the tariff price so that they can meet the service target of 50%.
What does it mean for you as a consumer?
Get ready to pay. The increment means you’ll pay more for calls and data.
But it also means that you’ll have better internet speed. Less dropped calls. And wider connectivity.
It also means you should get ready to hold them accountable.
If you’re paying x2 what you were paying before and network is still unstable, you can report the Telco.
That way, you’re getting value for what you paid for, and the increase in price is justified.
Hope you find this helpful. 👍
Good morning.