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Fuel price: GSM tariffs to rise
KEN NWOGBO
Telecommunications
companies in the country appear set to increase tariffs for services to cushion
the effect of the sudden increase in the pump price of petroleum products.
The announcement would unsettle the
telecommunications industry where subscribers are already protesting what they
call "unfair tariff regime" where they still pay for the inefficiencies of the
operators.
Today, a Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) phone call costs an average of N30 per minute while local
calls on fixed lines (land lines) average N4.50 per minute.
These tariffs are likely to inch up as the
network operators attempt to pass the burden occasioned by last week’s increase
in the pump price of diesel, a major fuel which now goes for between N60 and
N100 a litre, where available on the subscribers.
Top officials of some telecommunications
companies, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they are left with no
choice but to increase the tariff to cushion the sudden rise in petroleum
products.
Telecommunications companies depend on
independent source of power supply for their operations because of the epileptic
nature of public power supply.
"Look, we have more than 15,000 generators
across the country, and the biggest service providers have twice this number and
we require diesel to run these generators because public power supply is not
dependable. We are in business, so we must find a way to share the cost", an
official of a leading GSM network provider said.
He added that the combined daily diesel
requirement of the industry runs into several million litres.
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
had last week adjusted the prices of petroleum products by 33 percent sending
the pump price of petrol to an all-time high of N53 per litre in Lagos from
N43.90 even as many filling stations sell the vital product at almost N60 per
litre.
Kerosine price also rose to between N50
and N60 per litre from one filling station to the other, while diesel price also
went up.
The NNPC announcement came some 48 hours
after the landmark ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, barring the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) from protesting the imposition of the N1.50 fuel
tax.
The proposed telecommunications tariff
rebalancing would, however, have to pass through the apex regulatory body of the
industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) known for its popular
stand on affordable telecommunications services.
Whether the proposed hike gets the NCC nod
or not, officials said they would find a subtle way to share the burden of the
petroleum products’ prices increase with subscribers.
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