There are strong indications that telecom operators may be forced to reduce telecom tariff as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is not yet satisfied with the reduction that is attached to special packages. The commission said this does not affect the millions of subscribers in the country.
Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman, NCC, therefore called on telecom operators to come up with a specific reduction in telecom tariff targeted at al the subscribers in the country.
Juwah stated that the commission is not satisfied with the reduction in tariff which goes with special packages they offer adding that the commission may be forced to come up with measures that will compel operators to reduce their tariff.
Eugene said the reduction on special packages is designed for specific market segment and does not affect the generality of telecom subscribers in the country.
“Apart from quality of service, we need to see the operators reduce prices far more than they are doing at the moment,” he said. “It appears the reductions are currently based on special packages and we don’t think that is enough. We want to see reductions that affect the subscribers generally, and we think it is about time that the operators do something so that we don’t have to introduce other measures that will be drastic to achieve that.”
The issue of special packages dominated the fourth quarter of 2010 with Etisalat, MTN, Glo and Airtel embarking in one form of tariff reduction for as low as  N12 per minute, free short message services (SMS)  in order to increase their subscriber base and to get a strong hold of the lucrative market in the country.