MTN, Glo others to earn more from international calls

Nigerian telecom companies will from September begin to earn more revenue on international calls terminating their network from outside the country.

This follows the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) increasing the International Termination Rate (ITR) from $0.045 to $0.10 (10 cents) per minute.

The commission disclosed this in a document published on its website titled the Determination of Mobile (Voice) International Termination Rate (As Amended)

The ITR pertains to the cost of bringing call traffic into Nigeria, and it was increased from the $0.045 initially presented in December last year as a floor price.

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An NCC document noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria on June 23rd, 2022, issued a new circular to all commercial banks to allow the telecom operators to open dedicated accounts in respect of international calls.

The new rate, the Commission said, is to be paid in dollars to prevent a situation where the operator will be losing should the devaluation of the Naira continue.

On the reason for backtracking on the floor price to a fixed price, the NCC noted, “While the Determination had set a floor price at $0.045 and gives the MNOs room to negotiate on commercial terms with carriers, there were related indications that MNOs took advantage of this latitude to engage in discriminatory pricing that favors their related international carrier partners to the detriment of the Nigerian transit/IDA operators.

“To check the incidence of such anti-competitive disposition, it was agreed by all parties at the meetings that a fixed rate should be adopted by the Commission, in place of the floor rate which had provided a platform for negotiations with various carriers at a rate above the floor.

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