I think telecoms tariff increase shouldn’t be more than 30 to 60%–Minister

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has given fresh insights on the possible range within which the Main Network Operators (MNOs) can raise their service tariffs going forward.

Speaking in a recent media chat on Channels TV monitored in Lagos, the Minister averred that “I think the telecommunications tariff increase should not be more than 30 to 60 percent.”

Continuing, he added that “The sector is about investment in infrastructure; the technologies are changing, so you have to keep investing in technology. Things like 3G will be decommissioned at some point because you have higher technology, so they have to keep investing in equipment. And we all know that there is inflation. For us, as we are protecting them, we want to keep importing capital in the sector. The foreign direct investment in our sector in the first quarter of 2024, driven by telcos, was close to $199 million; this is bigger than the entire inflow in 2023. We can’t get to a $1 trillion economy if mobile network operators are investing at a snail’s pace.”