Senate orders NCC to stop planned data price hike

Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Dambatta 

The Senate on Wednesday asked the Nigerian Communications Commission to immediately stop planned data tariff hike.

The Senate said before any such hike could be announced all parties should be consulted.

Although the telecoms companies declined to speak on the matter, top management workers across the networks confirmed the story to our correspondent, saying that the directive was from the Nigerian Communications Commission.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior management employee of Etisalat Nigeria said, “The NCC issued the directive late last week on the orders of the Federal Government. We have not announced it yet because most of the major telcos have been meeting the NCC on how to reverse this policy, because it will be too harsh for Nigerians.

“However, we further gathered that the Federal Government took the decision having discovered that data rates are very low-priced in Nigeria, compared to other countries, including nearby African countries.

Punch