Nigeria's telecoms regulator will approve a 50% increase in current tariffs following a request from telecommunications operators, in line with rising costs in Africa's most populous nation, it said on Monday.

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s shares jumped after the Nigerian government raised telecommunications tariffs by 50% to offset the impact of the collapse in the naira and surging inflation.Most Read

MTN Nigeria has responded positively to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) approval of a 50% tariff adjustment for telecommunications operators.

Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator will approve a 50% increase in current tariffs following a request from network operators, in line with rising costs in Africa’s most populous nation, it said on Monday.

On Monday, we reported that the NCC approved a 50 per cent tariff increase explaining that the decision is necessary to address the widening gap between rising operational costs and stagnant tariffs. The approval is set to see the rate of phone calls increase to N16.5/minute and data to N431.25/GB.

Nigeria agreed to allow telecommunications providers to increase tariffs for the first time in 12 years. The 50% adjustment was half of what companies including MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, had asked for to weather harsh economic conditions,

The Association of Mobile Money & Bank Agents in Nigeria has said its members may have no option but to increase service charges. Ogungbayi Ganiyu, the National Public Relations Officer at AMMBAN, disclosed this in an interview with DAILY POST on Monday.