Mixed reactions as FG orders 50% cut in data cost

Many telecom subscribers on Thursday faulted the Federal Government on a claim that prices of data bundle has been reduced by 50 per cent by telecom operators.

The government had said telecommunication companies had complied to a directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on that.

A statement from the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami, said the price of data of 1 gigabyte (GB) had been reduced from N1000 in January 2020 to N487.18 in November.

Pantami said it was in line with the directive he gave to NCC.

“This was based on a report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) submitted to the Honourable Minister following the implementation of the directives,” the statement issued by the Minister’s Technical Assistant, Mr Femi Adeluyi, revealed.

However, score of subscribers said they have not noticed the change while subscribing.

Deji Eluobomi, an Ife, Osun state based subscriber said it was not true that prices of data bundles had been reduced as he bought 1G data for N1,000 yesterday morning.

“Probably, the directive or policy has not been accepted by the telecom operators. I still bought data, 1G at N1,000 this morning,’’ Eluobomi said.

Another subscriber, Muyiwa Ayinde Kareem  in Lagos, also debunked the 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.