The Acting Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Dr. Adamu Abdullahi has said that Multichoice, an international Pay Television company has attributed its recent hike in the cost of Subscription for its DStv and GOtv in Nigeria to the inadequate supply of foreign exchange.
This disclosure was made by Abdullahi in a recent live appearance on Channels Television on Sunday.
Abdullahi said, a detailed four-page letter by Multichoice stating the reason for the hike in the price of subscription in the country was submitted to FCCPC.
He said the reasons given by Multichoice would certainly be reviewed by the FCCPC noting that other regulatory bodies such as the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Communication Commission will also have a role to play in it.
In addition, he said the Commission will not hesitate to sanction Multichoice if it is found culpable to be arbitrarily increasing prices or manipulating the market.
“We got a four-page letter from Multichoice, telling us the reason that led to this price increase. What we need to do is to bring in NCC and maybe NBC and Multichoice, sit down, and look at these variables that they claim caused the rise in prices.
“At a glance, we saw things like the cost of electricity, running generators, the cost of dollars for spare parts, and so on. We will go through these items individually and find out how they have affected their operations.
“By and large, that’s the claim of what they are doing because they are a dominant player in this market. People have no choice but to go to them for Cable television, so that’s why they are doing what they are doing.
“If by any chance we find out or we can confirm that that’s what they are doing, again we go back to the law and do what we are supposed to do, he said.
Recall Multichoice Nigeria, had recently announced a price hike for its DStv, and GOtv packages by at least 25 per cent.
