Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers (ATCIS) has called on telecommunications companies in Nigeria to reduce tariffs for voice and data services on their networks in the light of the current disruption triggered by coronavirus pandemic.
The masses consumer advocacy body stress that as most companies have resorted to remote operations and people are dealing with movement restrictions, everyone is left with voice calls, small messaging service (SMS) and internet services to keep up with daily business trends and social realities.
In a statement signed by Prince Sina Bilesanmi, national president of ATCIS, ATCIS urges the operators to be patriotic and not exploit the disruption caused by the pandemic as an opportunity to rake in easy money.
“With self-isolation, and with a federal government directive that many institutions be closed as well as curfew in some states to ensure that the spread of the virus is curtailed, this will naturally lead to change in consumer behaviour,” Bilesanmi says, adding that the changes are reflected in the uptake in the usage of collaborative tools to communicate, to do business and work from home as well as e-learning starting from primary, secondary to tertiary institutions.
According to the statement, the situation at hand is a very delicate one and the only way “we can have a breakthrough is by prioritising patriotism above personal gains and gratifications. Everyone is caught almost unprepared by COVID-19, therefore forcing us to abandon our places of works and start working from home.”
To curtail the spread of the deadly coronavirus, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said, “Based on the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, I am directing the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11pm on Monday, 30th March 2020. This restriction will also apply to Ogun State due to its proximity to Lagos and the high traffic between the two states.”
According to the president, the residents of Lagos, Ogun and FCT were instructed to “stay in their homes.” All businesses and offices within these locations were ordered to fully close during the lockdown with the inclusion of financial institutions.
“We cannot do this unless we have access to telecommunications services for voice and data. This may appear like a good time for our mobile network operators (MNOs) to rake in more money as rate of spending on voice and data multiplies, it should, however, not be seen in this manner,” Bilesanmi pleads.
The president added that telecoms service providers, especially, MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile, and others should see this time as an opportunity to further exhibit their value as responsible corporate citizens by slashing tariffs on calls and data bundles.
Meanwhile, some of the telecoms firms say they are working with some agencies to fight the spread of the virus in Nigeria.
According to MTN, it has provided 1,200 telephone lines to NCDC, and have also credited the phones with N100,000 for monthly for voice and sms. “We are also providing 3GB of data a month to those lines.”
“Affordable access, undoubtedly, will connect the people to our responders including police, fire service, health workers, and so on. We, therefore, call on the operators to support the fight against the deadly virus by cutting tariffs or create special bundles for subscribers to lessen the negative economic impacts of Covid-19 on individuals,” Bilesanmi states.
Airtel Nigeria said it recently commenced a national awareness campaign on Coronavirus to curb the spread of the deadly disease.
Airtel said it donated 40 mobile phones complete with a Closed User Group (CUG) to the Port Health Services, an arm of the Federal Ministry of Health, to support its effort to track and verify passenger information at the country’s local and international airports.
Segun Ogunsanya, managing director/CEO of Airtel Nigeria, while speaking on the donation, said the company, like every other organization is committed to any measure that will help curb the spread of the deadly Coronavirus.
“The phones, airtime and CUG are probably the least we can do in the circumstance to empower the gallant men and women at the forefront of the fight against the scourge,” he said.
