Telecom
NCC Stays with Consumers in the Face of 5 Per cent Excise Duty
Recently at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the federal government disclosed her resolve to commence the implementation of five percent excise duty on telecommunications services in the country.
According to Mr. Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, through Frank Oshanipin, the Assistant Chief Officer in the ministry, “the five per cent excise duty has been in the Finance Act 2020 but hasn’t been implemented. The delay in implementation was as a result of government’s engagement with stakeholders”.
He further said that the duty rate wasn’t captured in the Act because it is the responsibility of the President to fix rate on excise duties and has fixed five per cent as the duty rate for telecommunication services, which include, GSM services.
Oshanipin added: “It is public knowledge that our revenue cannot run our financial obligations, so to that effect we are to shift our attention to non-oil revenue. The responsibility of generating revenue to run government lies with us all.”
The Role of NCC in the 5% Excise Duty
NCC is the federal government agency that regulates telecommunications sector of the country’s economy. It is wrong for anybody to attribute the 5 percent excise duty on telecommunications service to the commission. That NCC organised the stakeholders’ meeting where the announcement was made does not mean that it came from the Commission.
As stated in the presentation made by the representative of minister of Finance, the five per cent excise duty is contained in the Finance Act of 2020 and the percentage determined by the President.
However, the Commission opposed the implementation date of the duty as stated in the opening remarks of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, who was represented at the meeting by Adeleke Adewolu, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management: “As communicated in the federal government Circular of March 1, 2022, the five per cent Excise Duty was to have been implemented as part of the 2022 Fiscal Policy Measures, but the industry considered the earlier scheduled commencement date of June 1, 2022 inadequate and we duly took this up with the federal government.”
More so, in opposition to the excise duty Prof Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, also rejected the planned implementation of the five percent excise duty on the telecommunications sector by the Federal Government.
The minister faulted the timing and process of imposing the tax on the industry, arguing that part of the responsibility of responsive government is not to increase the problems of the citizens.
Speaking at a forum organised by the Nigeria Office for Developing the indigenous Telecom Sector (NODITS), an agency domiciled in the Nigeria Communications Commision (NCC), he said he is not in support of excise duty.
“I have not been contacted officially. If we are, we surely will state our case. The sector that contributes to the economy should be encouraged,” Pantami said. “You introduce excise duty to discourage luxury goods like alcohol. Broadband is a necessity.
“If you look at it carefully the sector contributes two per cent excise duty, 7.5 per cent VAT to the economy and you want to add, more” he said, adding hardship at this time cannot be tolerated.
He urged the tax masters to expand the scope of other sectors that are not contributing to the economy to do so.
“We must come together and salvage the sector. Only telecom sector contributed 13 per cent and you want to add more.”
Pantami faulted the lawmaking process that produced the harsh tax because it didn’t involve the chairman of the House Communications Committee. “So, we reject it,” he said.
According to him, further tax on the sector will impact on its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
NCC on Reduction of Tariff in the Industry
The commission has over the years demonstrated that consumers of telecommunications services must be treated fairly and protected from incessant tariff increase by operators.
It is on record that NCC has implemented policies and programmes that give consumers voice in expressing their dissatisfaction of services or treatments by operators such as consumer outreach programmes among others.
Through effective regulatory efforts, it has ensured that the cost of making calls has crashed from around N70 per a minute to around N20 per minute. The commission has prevented mobile network operators from just increasing tariff any-how, and that tariff or promotions of any kind that may lead to traffic increase are reviewed by NCC to ensure they are fair to consumers.
Interestingly, a reverse of common trends in the country where price increases never come down is witnessed in telecommunications sector as calls and data cost have consistently been going down from where it used to be. This is a testament of NCC’s consumer -centric approach to regulation of the industry.
The commission has also revealed plans to reduce the price of data to N390 per Gigabyte by 2025, as contained in the Nigeria National Broadband Plan. And is assiduously working to realise this objective. Among such efforts is its plans to introduce a licencing framework for the establishment of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in Nigeria, which will lead to the massive penetration of broadband services to the unserved and underserved areas of the country.
Just recently, ALTON wrote a letter to the NCC, calling for an upward review of the cost of SMS from N4 to N5.61k and voice call termination rate from N6.40k per minute to N8.95k per minute. The operators said the move to increase the cost of telecom services became necessary due to the high cost of delivering telecom services across networks, coupled with the harsh business environment and the continuous rise in the cost of various items in various sectors of the Nigeria economy among others.
However, the commission responded by issuing a statement to allay subscribers’ fears over the planned hike of the voice call, SMS, and data service costs by 40 per cent.
According to the statement, “For the avoidance of any doubt, and contrary to MNOs’ agitation to increase tariffs for voice and Short Messaging Services (SMS) by a certain percentage, the commission wishes to categorically inform telecoms subscribers and allay the fears of Nigerians that no tariff increase will be effected by the operators without due regulatory approval by the commission.”
The statement read: “The demand being made by MNOs under the auspices of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), citing the high cost of running their operations as the major reason for their proposed tariff hike, is contained in a letter to the commission.
“Consistent with international best practice and established regulatory procedures, the NCC ensures its regulatory activities are guided by regular cost-based and empirical studies to determine the appropriate cost (upper and floor price) within which service providers are allowed to charge their subscribers for services delivered.
“The commission ensures that any cost determined, as an outcome of such transparent studies is fair enough as to enhance healthy competition among operators, provide wider choices for the subscribers as well as ensure the sustainability of the Nigerian telecoms industry.”
NCC noted that tariff regulations and determinations were made by the commission in line with the provisions of Sections 4, 90, and 92 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, which entrusts the commission with the protection and promotion of the interests of subscribers against unfair practices including but not limited to; matters relating to tariffs and charges.
NCC said the current tariff regime administered by the service providers was a product of NCC’s determination both for voice and SMS in the past.
Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.
The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.
Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.
The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.
However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.
MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.
In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.
Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.
Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.
“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.
The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.
The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”
The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.
A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.
This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.
According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.
However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.
According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.
“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.
“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”
It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.
“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.
For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.
“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.
It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.
Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.
Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.
Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.
“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”
Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response
Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.
Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.
The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.
Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.
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