NATCOMS decries levies by telecom operators

The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers on Wednesday expressed displeasure at the numerous levies saddled on members by telecoms operators.
The National President, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
According to him, the association is kicking against the new levy because it will lead to mobile operators jacking up their prices and that will affect subscribers.
He added that it would also affect the growth of the industry and urged for its total removal.
Ogunbanjo said: “The recent directive by Central Bank of Nigeria imposing 0.00 per cent levy on all electronic transactions is a levy too many.
“There are 38 levies already and this is the 39th imposed on telecoms operators by the three tiers of government and their Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
“This is so wrong because the burden of it all will be on subscribers.
“The network operators are complaining of these numerous levies and hindrances, adding that it has an adverse effect on network delivery and efficiency.”
Ogunbanjo said that the levy would not augur well for the telecoms industry in the country as it was coming when the world was encouraging people on data usage.
He said that what the government was doing was to encourage subscribers on one hand, and on the other hand make things expensive with the introduction of the levy.
He said: “This should not be entertained at all and we are joining other industry stakeholders in condemning it.
“Government is talking about all electronic transactions and we are going cashless, it is simply unacceptable, they should have a rethink.”
NAN reports that recently, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria revealed plans by government to implement Section 44 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, ETC) Act of 2015 (PDF).
Section 44 of the act highlights the establishment of the National Cyber Security Fund, which is to be funded by 0.005 per cent levy charged on all electronic transactions and to be domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria The ATCON National President, Olusola Teniola, revealed that the apex bank notified the association to be ready for the collection of the 0.005 per cent levy to finance the fund.
Teniola claimed the levy would not only affect telecom operators and Internet Service Providers, but firms in the financial industry would also feel the impact.