Stakeholders Call for Review of Interconnect Rates

As the telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) plans another review of the telecoms industry interconnect rate, industry stakeholders have called on NCC to expedite action in the planned review of interconnect rate, both at local and international call termination rates.

The Chief Executive Officer of Pinet Informatics, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, who made the call, said this becomes imperative given that interconnect rate review is done periodically.

Justifying the call for a review the country’s interconnect rate, Ajayi told THISDAY that the current exchange rate of the dollar, the value of the naira and the recent inflation rate, were all different from what they used to be five years ago. He said that these rates have increased over a hundred fold, from what was obtainable five years ago, thus, justifying the need to review the interconnect rates that currently exist in the telecoms sector. He argued that the high rates are affecting revenue generation of telecoms companies, who still operate at the old interconnect rates.

He warned that the situation, if not properly handled by NCC, could lead to serious revenue losses for telecoms operations and network expansion will become difficult, leading to network congestion, since subscribers’ growth across networks, is on the increase.

Ajayi however cautioned that the NCC must draw a balance while introducing a new interconnect rate, insisting it must be done in such a way that subscribers will not be subjected to pay so much for telecoms services, especially for services that have to do with call termination rates, be it local or international.