State Minister Discusses Tariff Hikes with Telecom Corporations – Catholic Radio Community for South Sudan and Nuba Mountains

By Marko Nyoro Abal

On Tuesday, the Western Bahr el Ghazal State Minister of Info and Telecommunication, Samuel Nicola Cornelio, held a gathering with representatives of telecommunications firms to handle the current tariff hikes affecting the state.

Mrs. Achol, a consultant from one of many community firms, defined that the rise in tariffs was on account of rising operational prices, pushed by the fluctuating trade price.

 The rise within the greenback trade price has made it troublesome for us to take care of our operations. Each MTN and Zain are going through related challenges on account of rising prices.”

She added that telecommunications firms can not increase tariffs independently; any changes have to be accredited by the federal government following an in-depth evaluation.

“You will need to word that no firm can unilaterally enhance tariffs. Authorities approval is required after analyzing the state of affairs.”

Minister Samuel Nicola Cornelio acknowledged that the tariff hikes have been initiated by the Nationwide Communication Authority (NCA) and the Financial institution of South Sudan (BOSS) in response to the rising greenback price, which impacts the importation of important community tools.

“The choice to extend tariffs comes from discussions between the NCA, BOSS, and the community firms. If the greenback costs lower sooner or later, we hope the tariffs might be adjusted accordingly.”

The NCA and BOSS have reportedly agreed to regulate the regulated trade price for telecommunications tariffs in response to the rising official trade price set by BOSS.