Nigerians should expect new data price soon – NCC

The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has said Nigerians should expect a new data price as soon as an on-going cost-based research is concluded.

This was disclosed in Abuja by the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Umar Garba Dambatta during a chat with DAILY POST.

According to him, the commission had noticed that the level of data usage was growing across the country and there was need for an affordable and acceptable price floor for data.

He said this was necessary in order to forestall a price war in the data sub-segment of the telecommunications industry.

Dambatta disclosed that the commission was looking at other temporary measures in other to ensure that data services improved.

He said: “We have noticed that the level of data usage is growing. This attests to the earlier assertion by the NCC that data is going to be the next frontier.

“You recall that NCC attempted to do the interim price floor for data in order to ensure that we do not have a price war in the data sub-segment of the industry.

“This of course met with resistance from the consumers; and because the NCC is a listening agency, we suspended the interim price floor.

“As I am talking to you, there is a cost-based study going on in order to arrive at an accepted, affordable data price floor which will come into force as soon as the consultants’ work is concluded.

“That is, as soon as the outcome of this consultancy that is on-going over data price is discussed,.as usual, and is further consulted upon with other stakeholders who we expect will provide useful information towards arriving at an acceptable price floor for data.

“We are also looking at other temporary measures in other to ensure that data services improve.

“We are thinking about providing palliatives to smaller operators in the industry. I‎ mean those with about 7.5 percent share of the market.

“We are in discussion with them in order to see how we can help them to provide data services in different part of the country even as we are talking with bigger operators to ensure that we find a way to improve the quality of data services.”

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