MultiChoice’ll collapse if it adopts ‘pay as you go’ for services in Nigeria—BH Report
A market survey carried out by Business Hilights Economic Research Team (BHERT) has revealed that should the leading Pay TV services provider in Nigeria, the South African MultiChoice group adopt ‘Pay as you go’, it will collapse in less than two months of the tariff regime.
Explaining the reasons behind the findings, head of Research, Dr. Ibrahim Lawal said “The prevailing regime of monthly subscription which the company had been using has gone so deep in the planning and financial administration of the company, so altering it will amount to serious shocks capable of ending the lifespan of the company.
“MultiChoice knows how many subscribers on its Pay TV network and the amount it will likely make in a month, but pay as you go will not guarantee the same level of monthly earnings which will cause disruptions in development planning and day to day running of the company.
BHERT also noted that “The Company is aware that if it reverts to pay as you go, over 65 per cent of monthly earnings will go off and that will spell doom for even the running of the company including maintenance and other bills.
“The major reasons that will frustrate the company if it yields to the mounting pressure of pay as you go, include the poor state of power supply, the limited time Nigerians spend watching TV due to the nature of their economic life and the possibility of subscribers in only using the device only when they want.
It would be recalled that the calls for pay as you go by Nigerians have lasted for long and on Wednesday, it reechoed again at the House of Representatives where legislators passed a resolution aimed at compelling MultiChoice Nigeria, a Pay-TV service provider to adopt the payment package option.
Adopting a motion moved by Mr. Abbas Tajudeen at the plenary presided by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Sulaimon Yussuff Lasun, the House mandated its Committee on Telecommunications to interface with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Consumer Protection Council and the MultiChoice to address concerns expressed by Nigerians over the planned increase in the prices of the various bouquet on offer on its Digital Satellite Television (DStv).
Lasun directed the committee to report back to the House in eight weeks for further legislative action.Tajudeen maintained that the ever increasing prices of the various bouquet on offer by MultiChoice and its refusal to offer a ‘Pay as you go’ package option on its bouquet is causing a financial strain on its subscribers.
The lawmaker observed that it has been the practice for the company to increase the prices of its various packages almost on a yearly basis, noting that in 2013 the monthly subscription increased by 7–10 per cent; in 2014 by 10-15 per cent and in 2015 by 10–22per cent, and just recently, the company sent a notification of another price increase with effect from May 1, 2017.
