Telcos in fierce data competition

By JUSTUS ADEJUMOH,

The gradual financial decline in the voice service of telecommunications market is heating up a stiff competition among network operators for data service supremacy. One of the strategies being deployed by the operators- Airtel Glo, Etisalat, MTN and ntel, is significant reduction in the prices of the their data bundles.
While the conventional Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have organizations as their main targets, Telecom operators have been pushing their data services to all mobile and stationary devices in the market.
For Airtel, a monthly plan for Whatsapp goes for N100 by dialing *948#. The general monthly data plan of 1.5GB costs N1,000.
The basic plan on the Etisalat network, it offers users 10MB for N100 on basic plan for a period of 24 hours. Glo on its part gives subscribers 30MB data for N50 per day.
In the battle for subscribers, MTN is not left out. In fact, it seems to be more generous in its data offer. For 1.5GB monthly plan, MTN now charge N1,000. MTN social media services such as Facebook and Whatsapp, subscribers are charged N60 per month by an initial code *131#.
When BH contacted the Managing Director of SWIFT Networks Limited, Mr. Charles Anudu, he declined to comment. There was also no reply to a text sent to his phone as at press time.
According to an MTN subscriber in Ogudu area of Lagos State, Mr. Tuwase Ogundero, “I have been an alien to MTN network over the years because of its voice and data high tariffs. But about two months ago, a friend told me that the network seems to be the most considerate in terms of data service. When I tried it, I didn’t feel shortchanged as before. Its plans are quite affordable now. I guess it is because the likes of Airtel and Glo are offering very low data tariffs.”
The Corporate Affairs Manager of Spectranet, Mr. Hassan Bakare, declined to comment when contacted. In his words: “The management needs to be consulted before any comment can be made. When we are ready, we will get back.”
Efforts made to reach MTN for comments proved abortive as calls made to the Corporate Affairs Manager, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Funso Aina were not responded to. There was no reply to the text sent to him also.
On the reason for the push by the telecom operators, industry observers posit that the economic situation of the country has fast reduced subscribers’ capacity to buy data for use. This does not only affect individuals, but organizations as well.
In his view, the former Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) President, Bayo Banjo, said the industry will gradually be losing its financial luster unless they take steps to stem the tide. “The major step they can indeed take to save the situation is boosting their data service.
Availability of data is not enough. It must be made more affordable.
I think that is what they are doing now so that it will be a win-win situation,” he said.
The president of National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the data market push by the service providers is not surprising.
“The economic challenges are affecting the financial status of telecom operators. However, the tariff reduction on data services is not unexpected. The reason for this is that the service providers have taken enough from subscribers and have continued to do so more than ever before,” Ogunbanjo said.
For quite some time now, the issue of Right of Way (RoW) has been a major concern for telecom operators. With over 30,000 kilometres of fibre cables laid across the country by MTN and Glo-1 in place, it is hoped that data services in Nigeria would be much more available and affordable than it is being experienced now.