Telcos cut profit to attract subscribers and ensure survival
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Telecom operators are cutting into profit margins to attract with lower tariffs customers hemmed in by tight budgets, stagnant wages, ballooning energy costs, and inflation, all of which Muhammadu Buhari gleefully neglects to tackle.
Living standards are declining and the President merely issues puerile orders and statements – mainly through his false prophets called spokesmen – from his cocoon in Aso Rock without backing his words with action.
To attract customers and stay afloat, telecom operators are rolling out more affordable tariffs, as in newly approved tariff plan for MTN, Airtel, and 9Mobile by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The new rates, effective July and August, come a month after the regulator rejected plans by the telcos to raise tariffs in line with rising costs of diesel and other operational inputs.
MTN
MTN will extend its MTN Yafun Yafun promotion which offers subscribers 8x the value (700 per cent bonus) on all recharges done via physical, logical, and VTU recharge channels.
The promo begins on 16 August.
MTN on 11 July kicked off its modified Xtra Special Bundle which offers a standard rate of 13.33k/sec (N8/min) to all local and selected international destinations as well as data bundles for subscribers on the plan.
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
NCC rejects telcos’ 40% tariff hike request
Rising diesel price threatens telecom service, operators say
Telcos groan under 40 different taxes causing poor service
__________________________________________________________________
Airtel
Airtel will roll out Smart Value Tariff on 5 August, a voice-only plan that allows all calls (onnet/offnet) to be charged at a flat rate of N9.22/min, according to NCC document, per reporting by Nairametrics.
It offers calls to five international countries – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and China – at 55k/sec while calls to other countries will be charged at standard rates.
Airtel will also launch on 6 August Airtel 20x Plan that offers subscribers 20 times the airtime value for voice and data.
9Mobile
9Mobile has Morelife Complete, a tariff plan segment for high-value subscribers.
The plan, which took off on 16 July, provides a flat rate for voice calls to all networks and 11 international destinations for a daily access fee of N5.12.
Backstory
The NCC Act 2003 says operators cannot increase charges without approval from the regulator.
So the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) wrote in June to the NCC proposing a rise in the cost of calls, short message service (SMS), and data to cushion 40 per cent increase in the cost of doing business.
ALTON said the industry has also been financially impacted by the recession in 2020 made worse by the current Russian war in Ukraine
It requested to raise the price of call from N6.4 to N8.95 and SMS from N4 to N5.61.
The NCC rejected the request, explaining there would not be no review in telecom tariff until studies are conducted to ascertain if it is necessary.
