ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria’s telecoms regulator will approve a 50% increase in current tariffs following a request from telecommunications operators, in line with rising costs in Africa’s most populous nation, it said on Monday.
Telecoms operators had requested a 100% tariff increase but the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it reached its decision taking into account ongoing industry reforms that will impact sustainability.
Tariff rates have remained unchanged since 2013, despite the increasing costs of operation, the NCC said, adding that the increase was aimed at addressing the significant gap between operational costs and revenues while ensuring that service delivery is not compromised.
Inflation has risen sharply after President Bola Tinubu devalued the naira currency and cut subsidies in 2023 to try to lift economic growth and shore up public finances.
It started to ease in July last year as the impact of the naira devaluation began to fade, before a series of petrol price increases again spurred inflationary pressures.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha;Editing by Alison Williams and Tomasz Janowski)
