The House of Representatives yesterday asked the federal government to give marching order to the Broadcast Satellite Service providers, particularly DSTV, to reverse the recent June 1, 2020, subscription price hike, and revert to the old price.
The House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the non-implementation of the pay-as-you-go tariff by Broadcast Satellite Service Providers in Nigeria made this known at a hearing, saying there is no going back on the decisions of the parliament.
The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Uyime Idem, stated that this was not the best of times to increase the prices of services no matter the reasons for such increase, taking into consideration the ravaging effect of COVID-19 on the economy of Nigerians.
He urged the federal government to come up with a strategy to break the monopoly and open up the industry for larger participation.
The lawmaker also asked the federal government to implement Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) tariff regime for the digital TV broadcasting in Nigeria with particular reference to DSTV, GOTV, Startimes and Kwese TV.
The committee further called on the federal government to ensure the deregulation of content right by Direct-to-Home (DTH) Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) operators, and encourage local content participation through content sharing.