Information and Communications Minister, Prof Dora Akunyili, has insisted that the current call tariff regime in the country must be reviewd, arguing that Nigerians were unnecessarily paying through the nose for making calls. She has therefore charged the new board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to do something about the issue of punitive tariff charged by operators in the country.

“On high tariffs, considering our huge population, we deserve to have one of the lowest tariffs in Africa despite our obvious infrastructural challenges.

“Infrastructure sharing will definitely reduce operational cost and drive down tariffs. For example, there is no way we can be talking about new intercontinental fibre optic cables without a reduction in the cost of broadband access. I am glad to know that the Commission has complied to my directive on the need for number portability and has consequently appointed an adviser to kick off the process,” the minister said during the inauguration of the new board in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Prof. Akunyili has restated her resolve to ensure that all telephone subscribers are registerd in the country.

To this end, she has once again directed the NCC to ensure that recalcitrating operators selling new subscriber identification module (SIM) cards are called to order. Specifically, the minister directed the board to stop forthwith, the sale of new SIM cards without capturing the biometrics of the person buying it. “You are to direct all relevant operators to stop forthwith any sales of new SIM cards without capturing the necessary data of the owners. Government demands and expects full compliance,” the minister charged the board members

“There is no going back on SIM card registration. The first phase involving the registration of new SIM cards by operators has commenced,” she added.

Registration of SIM cards in the country has become a rather untidy affair as most of the operators embark on registering existing subscribers, contrary to the directive of the minsiter and that of the NCC. Sector analysts blame this development on lack of will to enforce government’s directive.

According to them, since the NCC and the operators jointly agreed on the need to reduce the crime rate in the country through registering SIM cards, and drawing a time table for the exercise, it is strange why the operators are doing what pleases them.

“Go to the streets, you still find them, under umbrellas and in shops, selling SIM cards. Nobody asks any question. They just collect N150 from you and there you go. It is not proper.

“The other day, one of them engaged the service of drummers, backed it up with jobless street girls who were dancing virtually nude in the streets in order to sell its SIM card for N50. Since you cannot give what you don’t have, illieterate cannot ask the relevant questions from the new subscribers,” Mr Charles Alake, a teacher said

MTN in particular needs to be called to order. What the hell!

jamace:

MTN in particular needs to be called to order. What the hell!

MTN is a fraudulent company, with their bad and crowded network, I hardly get pple in nigeria that use MTN

If you're in Nigeria learn how to reduce your call cost on MTN, GLO, ZAIN, ETISALAT, STARCOMMS and more. Go to http://www.080advertising.com ,Click on GSM codes. Hope it helps.

The minister of information should say something about our public infrastructure which is non - existent.

This is indeed a good one, low tariffs and sim registration. I think govt should follow up and enforce this directives on all network providers.

imagine N30 per minute, 2 mins in etisalat

reduce costs , on which infrastructure

WE need to give the information Minister all the necessary support, the order she gave is a good one and something must be done about that, we spend a whole lot of money on calls but in other countries, it is not like that,

Have Dora inform OBJ about this?

High_Chief:

MTN is a fraudulent company, with their bad and crowded network, I hardly get pple in nigeria that use MTN

MTN the worst connection.

thats should be good[img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=ffffff/txt=ffffff/border=ffffff/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

I commend Dora for her plan to reduce GSM tariffs.

Dora helped to reduce fake drugs in Nigeria through NAFDAC.

It will be very good if Dora can remove high call charges on our Nigeria GSM.

It will help businesses to reduce their operational cost. It will reduce cost of production. It will encourage businesses to expand and many more.

This is a right step in the right direction, the extortion is too much.

DORA should go and sit down somewhere, What does she know about business?Instead of her to tell the useless govt headed by BADLUCK JUDASTHAN on how to improve infrastructure and provide the enabling environment,she's here suffering from diarrhoea of the mouth.Does she know the cost of diesel that these companies incur daily?Why didn't MTEL that is owned by the govt thrive?

Instead of her to tell Jonathan about the useless plan to buy more presidential planes,she's here babbling.God punicsh all of una.

I have alot of respect for Dora when she was in NAFDAC, that's why i am writing this piece. i assume she is acting blindly on the issue at hand. She wants operators to reduce cost. I wonder if she knows that about 10,000 cell sites in nigeria run on Diesel Generators 24hrs of the day. now lets do a little analysis. MTN has more than 4000 cell sites in Nigeria, each cell sites consumes an average of 100 litres of diesel daily. when you check yearly consumption of diesel in 4000 cell sites, it amounts to 146 million litres of diesel yearly. The contract sum for the supply of diesel to these sites is about N170. per litre, for the 146 million litres, the cost is approx 25 billion naira. This is just a rough cost analysis for diesel. We have not checked the cost for generator maintenance and this analysis is just for MTN. Now tell me, if PHCN is working properly, I know that MTN will not consume more than N5 billion worth of power. This will leave them with N20 billion. Then we can talk about Low call tarrif.

Please Mrs Information minister, lets not make things more difficult for investors in Nigeria. Your major focus in rebranding Nigeria should be on getting foreign investors to take part in power generation and distribution. that is what will leave your name on the marble not getting some Chinese companies to install DTT equipments and launch startimes. Startimes will never leave your name on the marble!, GO WOO FOREIGN INVESTORS INTO OUR POWER SECTOR. you can collaborate with the power minister and get things done there. Anyway, Congratulations on the success of startimes.

China_kobo

DO YOU KNOW MTN's PROFIT IN A YEAR IS MORE THAN THE PROFIT OF ALL THE BANKS COMBINED? I MEAN BANK's PROFIT IN THOSE DAYS WHEN BANK WERE CHURNNING OUT SEVERAL BILLION DOLLARS.

I HOPE YOU KNOW PROFIT = REVENUE - COST.
THIS MEANS AFTER SUBTRACTING THE COST OF CELL SITES, DIESEL, GENERATORS AND WHAT HAVE YOU? THEY STILL MAKE SO MUCH. NIGERIA IS A BIG MARKET.

THEREFORE DORA IS 100% RIGHT. THIS GUYS ARE REAPING US OFF. MTN IS PARTICULARLY GUITY. I HONESTLY DON'T WHY PEOPLE ARE STILL ON THAT NETWORK. MOVE ON TO CHEAPER NETWORK BROTHER.

MTN REDUCE YOUR CALL RATES. THEY ARE EXORBITANT

DO YOU KNOW MTN's PROFIT IN A YEAR IS MORE THAN THE PROFIT OF ALL THE BANKS COMBINED? I MEAN BANK's PROFIT IN THOSE DAYS WHEN BANK WERE CHURNNING OUT SEVERAL BILLION DOLLARS.



NAIRA I MEAN PLEASE

MTN is the greates thieves av ever seen. Ole! Ole!! Ole!!! and their network is the worst in Nigeria of today. I'v made up my mind i'll never us MTN again thank God for competition, other networks r available now. Rubbish

The one that annoys me the most is MTN internet. It's really looooooousy. Fast- yes. But unreasonably expensive, disconnects too often and doesn't support many websites (at least its not to good for certain ports that are useful for me as a web designer). I really hope someone talks sense to them. If they reap off billions and lose goodwill, they will ultimately crash.

Unfortunately, I am being reminded now that we don't have many better options,

KG_NAIRA,

We must understand that 25billion naira is not just a pack of cash, its lots of cash. lets be considerate here, reducing tariff means reducing their profit while OPEX will likely increase due to more people making calls and resources will be in high demand. Furthermore, due to possibility of congestion on the network this will also result to some high CAPEX  in order to increase capacity.

There is more to it than we averagely see . am not saying that i wont like to make calls at cheaper rate, but i will rather call at the present rate than experience poor call quality and network congestion!

china_kobo:

KG_NAIRA,

We must understand that 25billion naira is not just a pack of cash, its lots of cash. lets be considerate here, reducing tariff means reducing their profit while OPEX will likely increase due to more people making calls and resources will be in high demand. Furthermore, due to possibility of congestion on the network this will also result to some high CAPEX  in order to increase capacity.

There is more to it than we averagely see . am not saying that i wont like to make calls at cheaper rate, but i will rather call at the present rate than experience poor call quality and network congestion!

You are free to stick to your pro-MTN or pro-status quo argument but I do know that there is still some leeway for tariff reduction in Nigeria. Remember the MTN-led 'no to per second billing' story and others like introductory prices for SIM cards and USB modems. MTN even used to charge for Caller ID identification and calls made to their Call Centre! If Etisalat and Visafone can offer lower tariffs, in the same environment, then MTN can even offer lower given the edge of economies of scale which they have over the smaller networks. But MTN has proved over time that they won't budge unless really pushed.

Beyond all this pushing however, what I see as the catch is the introduction of Number Portability (ability to move your current number to another network) will make MTN more friendly and even cheaper. The constraint of most disgruntled MTN customers is that they don't want to lose the number that people have known them with and many people do not like the idea of multiple lines/handsets.

ObamaUS

DORA should go and sit down somewhere, What does she know about business?Instead of her to tell the useless govt headed by BADLUCK JUDASTHAN on how to improve infrastructure and provide the enabling environment,she's here suffering from diarrhoea of the mouth.Does she know the cost of diesel that these companies incur daily?Why didn't MTEL that is owned by the govt thrive?

Please note the post mention about Infrastructure sharing which will reduce cost of running a cell site. She might not know about business but I think she has advisers

@ China Kobo

I have alot of respect for Dora when she was in NAFDAC, that's why i am writing this piece. i assume she is acting blindly on the issue at hand. She wants operators to reduce cost. I wonder if she knows that about 10,000 cell sites in nigeria run on Diesel Generators 24hrs of the day. now lets do a little analysis. MTN has more than 4000 cell sites in Nigeria, each cell sites consumes an average of 100 litres of diesel daily. when you check yearly consumption of diesel in 4000 cell sites, it amounts to 146 million litres of diesel yearly. The contract sum for the supply of diesel to these sites is about N170. per litre, for the 146 million litres, the cost is approx 25 billion naira. This is just a rough cost analysis for diesel. We have not checked the cost for generator maintenance and this analysis is just for MTN. Now tell me, if PHCN is working properly, I know that MTN will not consume more than N5 billion worth of power. This will leave them with N20 billion. Then we can talk about Low call tarrif.

You did all the calculations on Diesel but you did not tell us how much MTN ends in total after their bills and paying for their loans in a year. Correct me if I am wrong, MTN must be raking in up to or over 20 Billion naira a month.

China kobo God bless you for your very intelligent review.I am not in support of high tariffs but the government needs to tacke the issue of power.You cannot blame these companies considering what they spend on generators and diesel.Kindly walk close to any base station and you must hear the sounds of generators I bet they are not so noisy like the regular ones we have at home .Brothers and sisters,Phcn has failed us,thats is just the major problems we have presently

This Dora self these days.
Where is NITEL (or the corpse of it) in all this communication thing? Can the government run a telecom company? NO. Provide reliable electricity? NO. Run airline? NO. Run national oil company without becoming insolvent? Fa fa fa foul.

If NITEL was run properly and every household had land line like other serious countries have, will anyone spend so much money (if not on the go or emergency) on mobile phone calls? NO. In fact mobile phone companies will be forced to offer competitive prices. Telecom companies are confident that the FG cannot even run a kindergarten, how dare they ask for low prices? Can you blame them?
Companies know what to do. They can just "settle" some officials and everyone will be silent so they hike prices again.

@china kobo, you have interesting analysis but reduction in tariff does not neccessary translate to congestion. Why do we have to pay for sms fof goodness sake! they can reduce the tariff and make sms free, this way it will not lead to congestion.

She just wants cheap publicity. They should provide the network providers with stable electricity and reduce tax they pay, then the network providers will have no choice but to reduce their tarrifs. As for the network providers, most of them are just out there to rip us off.

ITS LONG OVERDUE FOR DOWN REVIEW OF CALLS TARIFF IN NIG. let nobody defend these providers MTN in particular at its long run ve been able to quadriple earned its running cost.they make more than surplus profit.is ETISALAT, a new comer in d mkt not runing cost?

The phone network companies will just give her some money and send some bags of rice\cows to
her hometown at Xmas.
Then she will shut up and f.u.ck off.

low call tarriff my a.r.se