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The House of Representatives has raised a 10-member ad hoc committee chaired by Unyime Idem to interface with Multichoice Digital Satellite Television (DSTV) and other service providers to introduce the Pay-as-You-Go (PAYG) tariff plan.
The decision followed the adoption of the motion raised by Idem (PDP: Akwa Ibom) on the need to call on “Multichoice Digital Satellite Television (DSTV) and Other Service Providers to Introduce the Pay as You Go Tariff (PAYG) Plan” at plenary presided over by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.
Presenting the motion, Idem expressed concern that Nigeria constitutes 40 per cent of DSTV’s global market share, yet over 40 per cent of its citizens do not use a greater part of their monthly subscription due to “engagements that take them from one location to the other on a daily basis, hence they cannot access the services upon expiration.”
According to him, “DSTV and other Direct to Home Service Providers operate a Pay As You Go Tariff Plan in other countries but have chosen to exploit Nigerians through a fixed monthly tariff plan.”
He added: “The continued exploitation by Multichoice, owners of DSTV, constitutes economic sabotage against Nigerians, as most of them pay for services they do not consume while the company, judging from their average monthly tariff of N8,000 if multiplied by 11.9 million subscribers, makes about N100 billion monthly at the expense of its subscribers.”
Asking that DSTV should be called to order, Aminu Suleiman (APC: Kano) noted: “It is not about whether one is well to do to pay for the monthly subscription, it is just that they are playing on the intelligence of Nigerians.”
