The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a new directive mandating telecommunications operators to simplify their tariff plans, bundles, and promotional activities. This initiative is aimed at providing subscribers with clear, easy-to-understand, and accurate information regarding the cost of voice, SMS, and data services.
The directive, titled “Guidance on the Simplification of Tariffs in the Nigerian Communications Sector,” was released on July 29, 2024. It requires Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to publish a comprehensive table outlining the features of their tariff plans and bundle offers. This table must include all necessary information for subscribers to make informed decisions, such as details on add-ons, pricing, opt-in/opt-out procedures, terms and conditions for renewal, and rollover policies.
This guideline is the result of extensive consultations with industry stakeholders, including MNOs and Consumer Focus Groups, as well as detailed data analysis on consumer preferences and expectations.
The objectives of these simplification guidelines are to reduce the complexity of tariff plans and bundles, ensure transparency and fairness in promotional activities, protect consumer interests by providing clear and understandable tariff information, and promote fair competition among licensees by standardizing tariff structures.
Service providers are also required to display all relevant information about their tariffs, including the name of the plan, price, validity period, price-per-second for on-network, off-network, and international calls, expected data speeds, and fair usage policies.
The directive allows operators to maintain existing bonus-led tariff plans until December 31, 2024. Within this period, operators are expected to educate and migrate all subscribers to the simplified tariff plans.
Furthermore, the guidelines mandate that MNOs communicate tariffs to subscribers in clear language and a user-friendly format, with full disclosure of a subscriber’s tariff plan via Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
Additionally, operators must offer stand-alone data bundles at fair prices, avoid tying consumers to products they do not need, clearly state bonuses on promotions in actual value, and eliminate access fees and asymmetric fee structures.
The NCC has emphasized that while adhering to these guidelines, operators must also meet the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) standards set out in the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations.
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