Subscribers urge FG, telcos to halt new taxes

The Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATIC) has appealed to the Federal Government and telecom providers not to implement their new taxes due to their ripple effect on subscribers. Mr Sina Bilasanmi, National President of ATIC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos that subscribers would […]

The Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATIC) has appealed to the Federal Government and telecom providers not to implement their new taxes due to their ripple effect on subscribers.

Mr Sina Bilasanmi, National President of ATIC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos that subscribers would be burdened with the high cost of making calls should they implement the taxes.

NAN reports that on March 31, telecom providers planned a 40 per cent increment on services that included voice calls, SMS and data while the government imposed N90.4 billion tax on telecom providers.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said the 40% increment was due to rising cost of doing business.

The federal government said the N90.4bn tax would be the equivalent of a minimum of one kobo per second for phone calls.

The government said the tax will enable it to fund the National Health Insurance Authority Bill 2021 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, last week.

The government said Nigerians made 150.83bn minutes of calls in 2020, which translated to 9.05 trillion seconds of calls, meaning the new tax will generate 9.05tr kobo, which converted to N90.49bn, yearly.

Bilasanmi said both taxes should not be implemented now because telecom providers had not perfected their services to warrant such a 40% increment.

He said the N90.4bn tax would lead to untold hardship on subscribers who had issues of drop calls, undelivered messages, among others, to settle with telecom providers. (NAN)