Cable Television Subscription: Federal Government urged to intervene.
...as Subscribers Kick against hike in Cable Tv Subscriptions.
Emmanuel Clement.
The National President of the Association of Telephone, Cable Tv and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS), Hon. Sina Bilesanmi has urged the federal government as a matter of urgency, to intervene in the incessant hike in cable television subscriptions.
Hon Sina, made this appeal at a press conference to mark the 8th edition of the organization on Wednesday in Lagos, while expressing worries over what he described as incessant hike in pay TV subscriptions across the country.
According to him, the pay TV subscription have consistently attracted hike in tariffs, to the detriment of the ATCIS-Nigeria members and the masses in general, therefore calling on the federal government to break the monopoly of Multichoice in order to create a level-playing field for others who want to invest in the sector.
He said Multichoice, being the major cable TV operator in the sub-sector of the broadcast industry, has continued to hike its subscription fees unapologetically in Nigeria, as he urged the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to borrow a leaf from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which has a consumer affairs department and has made the protection of consumers its priority.
“It’s unclear if the NBC’s sphere of supervision extends to that of the pay TV industry because if it does, the South African operator will not be taking everyone for a ride hiding under the excuse of an increase in content costs.
“We had sought the introduction of the GSM payment model but they said they lacked the technology to so do. Since the company said it cannot implement it, just as MTN and Econet Wireles had earlier said per second billing was a mirage in the telecoms industry, until Globacom came to the rescue with per second billing, we passionately appeal to President Tinubu to look critically into how to break this monopoly.
“Right now, our challenge is the National Assembly, if they can rise up to the cries of the general public by allowing the federal government to break the monopoly, then it would enable the subscribers to view 40 to 50 channels free of charge.
“This is what we are waiting for the government to key into our association for us to project their information,” he submitted.
Hon Sina went further to appeal to the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nyesom Wike to grant approval to telecoms to build a more resilient network, noting that for almost a decade, successive administrations in the FCT have refused to grant approval to telecoms to build infrastructure.
In the same vein, the State Chairman of ATCIS Edo state, Comrade Osemwengie Moses Ogbemudia while responding to a question, stated that for hackers not to invade and have access to their account, subscribers should learn to keep their passwords away from unauthorised persons.
He added that the association is doing everything within its possible power to ensure that the account of Nigerians is safe by working in collaboration with Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), while commending the federal government for introducing National Identification Number (NlN), stating that the positive outcome of the NIN initiative have reduced the influx of unsuspected criminals tampering with people’s account.
