Diesel Price: Telcos May Increase Tariff – ALTON Chairman, Adebayo

The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, has warned that if the recent hike in the price of diesel is sustained, it will lead to an increase in the Tariff of the telecommunications services provider.

He noted that the sector is a major consumer of diesel in the country and has already been affected by the current hike in price and scarcity of diesel, the PUNCH reports.

Adebayo said, “It is already impacting us and very significantly so. We are one of the industries that have the highest consumption of diesel across the country.

“Our need is not just in the major cities; it is all across the country. Diesel is required in all the places that require services. We are already significantly impacted. And it is not just about the high costs, it is also about availability. Suppliers are beginning to find it difficult to supply the commodity because of scarcity.

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“When they find, costs of haulage have gone up. The cost of procurement of the diesel itself has gone up significantly. We are actually in a very bad situation. And how this will play in end-user pricing requires us to follow the right channel, the regulatory procedure for conveying our complaint to the regulator.”

He reiterated the association’s continuous cooperation with their consumers but expressed fear there may soon be a need to increase tariff.

He said, “The diesel situation is a problem at this time. We are doing all that we can to ensure the business continues as usual in all cases and other every circumstance. The assurance for the public is that there would not be a time of outage because of the current diesel crisis. What I cannot assure is that at some point there may not be a consideration for some form of tariff review.

“I cannot guarantee that it will not happen sometime in the near future. I cannot guarantee that. But as it stands today, I will reassure the public that there would be continuous service at all times.

“We will continue to solve the problem to the best of our ability. We certainly need to approach the government for some intervention at some point. We are where we are. All that we are doing at this time is to ensure there are no disruptions to service.”