The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has announced that the Nigerian Communications Commission will soon outline modalities for tariff adjustments in the telecom industry.

However, he clarified that the increase will not meet the 100% requested by telecom operators.

Tijani made this disclosure on Wednesday during a stakeholder meeting with Mobile Network Operators, highlighting that consultations and engagements on the issue are ongoing.

The minister stated that the NCC will soon approve and publicly announce the new tariffs to Nigerians.

“You have seen over the past weeks that some of these companies have been agitating to increase tariffs. They are requesting a 100% tariff increase. But it will not be 100%. The NCC will soon come up with a clear directive on how we will go about it,” the Minister said.

The Minister emphasized the importance of the telecommunications sector aligning itself to implement the right regulations for its growth.

“We want to strike the balance as a government, to protect our people, but also protect and ensure that these companies can continue to invest significantly,” he said.

Tijani noted that the Federal Government would no longer rely solely on private companies for infrastructure investments in the sector.

“As a country, over time, we have left these investments in the hands of the private sector. They typically invest where they can see returns in the short to medium term.

“We will not want this conversation to just be about tariff increase. What the world is talking about today is meaningful connectivity, people want to have access to quality service.

“A part of it that the consumers may not be aware of is the investment that needs to go into the infrastructure that is used to deliver these services,” he said.

In his remark, the Executive Vice-Chairman, of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, said that the meeting with stakeholders focused on the sustainability of the industry.

Maida mentioned that regulators have considered all factors in the industry and it is unlikely the Commission will approve the 100% tariff increase as suggested by the Minister.

Acknowledging public anticipation for the exact percentage, he noted that further stakeholder engagements are scheduled, with decisions expected to be communicated in one or two weeks.

He stated that the NCC has implemented various tools and instruments to ensure service quality compliance.

Additionally, he urged MNOs to adopt simplified templates displaying charges per minute for voice calls, SMS, and data usage in megabytes to inform Nigerians.

“We are moving away from the regime where you will have a main rate, then you will now have a bonus which is at a different rate.

“It makes it often complicated and difficult for Nigerians to actually understand what they are being charged for. There is this agitation that the MNOs are stealing our data,” he said.

The CEO of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, represented by Femi Adeniran, Airtel’s media spokesperson, explained that the rising operational and capital costs due to economic realities made the proposed tariff adjustments necessary.