The National Association of Nigerian Students, South-west Zone, has reacted to the planned hike on DSTV and GOTV subscription rate by MultiChoice Nigeria.
The body gave the cable TV firm a seven-day ultimatum to
reverse the plan.
The student association made this known in a statement on
Tuesday, signed by its Coordinator, Adejuwon Olatunji, Deputy Coordinator, Alao
John, and Public Relations Officer, Opeoluwa Awoyinfa
Recall that MultiChoice had announced an upward review of
prices on its DSTV and GOTV packages by 17 per cent, in text messages sent to
its subscribers. It stated that the new rates would take effect on May 1, 2023,
explaining that rising costs of business operations was the reason behind the
increase.
In its reaction, NANS said the South African company was
bringing hardship on, and extorting Nigerians, without considering their
standard of living.
It stressed that tariffs should be charged on a “pay as you view”
basis.
The NANS statement remarked, “Today, we are aware that Multi
Choice Digital Satellite has increased its tariffs without considering the
standard of living of Nigerians. We have also waited for long to see if this
same company will dance to the music of Nigerians who have been clamouring for
‘pay-as-you-view’ tariff, but the reverse is the case.
“This is the time to call on National Broadcasting
Commission to go back to the Commission’s act to regulate the ownership,
activities and operations of Direct Broadcast Satellite Service Providers. DSTV
is one of the leading direct-to-home service providers in Nigeria since its
inception of operation from as far back as 1995, and has also made a lot of
profit with over 25 million subscribers which is the largest market for its
operations.
“We want the Federal Government to stampede their proposed
plan in tariffs increment and also force them to implement the pay-as-you-view
system. We are aware that DSTV operates a system of pay-as-you-go tariffs in other
countries,” NANS declared.
It stated that Nigeria constitutes over 45 per cent of DSTV
global market share, and therefore called on the President, Major General
Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the Minister of Communication to “break the
sporting right of MultiChoice” and provide an alternative service provider in
the country, so that “Nigerians can stop being exploited on a daily basis.”
Giving the ultimatum, NANS stressed, “We hereby give seven
days ultimatum to MultiChoice Digital Satellite Television to reverse the plan
of increasing the tariffs and also yield to the call of Nigerians by
implementing pay-as-you-view tariffs, or else, we shall be left with no other
option but to lock up all offices of DSTV until our demands are met which is
the mind of all Nigerians.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment