NCC lied about slashing data price by 50 per cent — Nigerians

The Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) claim that it has crashed internet subscription cost by 50 per cent is false, telecom subscribers say.

Communications and gigital economy minister Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami recently said the price of data of 1GB had been reduced from N1000 to N487, beginning from last November.

“This was based on a report by the NCC submitted to the Honourable Minister following the implementation of the directives,” said the statement issued on Pantami’s behalf by his Technical Assistant, Mr Femi Adeluyi, on Thursday in Abuja.

“The Honourable Minister had inaugurated a committee that developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) on the 16th of December, 2019.

“The Plan was unveiled and launched by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the 19th of March, 2020.

“One of the goals of the plan is to reduce the average cost of 1GB of data to a maximum of N390 by 2025.

“With the January 2020 baseline of N1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year was as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).

“In line with Dr Pantami’s commitment to under promise and over deliver, the measures have caused the current cost of data to reduce significantly beyond the December 2020 projection of N925.

“Based on the Report by NCC, the average cost of data as at November 2020 was N487.18, which amounts to 47.33% lower than the projected value.

“The Report also indicates that the cost of data in November 2020 was less than 50% of the cost of data in January 2020.”

But telecom subscribers have said FG’s claim of 50% data cost reduction was not true as they still buy 1G at N1000.

Deji Eluobomi, an Ife-based subscriber, said it was not true that prices of data bundles had been reduced as he bought 1G data at N1000 Thursday morning.

“Probably, the directive or policy has not been accepted by the telecom operators,” he told Daily Trust.

“I still bought data, 1G at N1000 this morning. I don’t think this [claim of price slash] is true,” Eluobomi said.

Another subscriber, Muyiwa Ayinde Kareem, who is based in Lagos, also debunked claim of data cost reduction by 50%.

“I should be the first person to know if there was such reduction.

“I sell data and use it. There is no reduction of any kind,” he said.

Mukhtar Abdullahi, another subscriber in Sabongari, Kano, said he had not noticed any reduction in data cost.