To engender subscribers’ effective use of the Short Messaging Services (SMS) for communications, the Nigerian communications Commission (NCC) in responding to the requests of subscribers for cost effectivetive SMS platform assembled telecoms operators to a forum last Tuesday at the Golden Gate Restaurants, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The executive vice chairman of NCC, Engineer Ernest Ndukwe had in his address emphasized that SMS served as alternative medium of communications to voice to a large number of telecoms consumers in the country and said that consumers had reacted to the SMS tariffs charge by telecoms operators on all the networks by agitating for price reduction of SMS rates.

The current SMS tariff regime on various mobile (using GSM and CDMA technology) and fixed wireless network operators as said by Ndukwe charge different tariffs off-net and on-net whereby the highest off-net tariff on mobile network is twenty naira and the lowest ten naira whereas on-net tariffs vary from fifteen to five naira.. Off-net tariffs on the other hand range between ten and twelve naira while on-net tariffs are between five and six naira.

To ensure that stakeholders and the general public are given the opportunity to express their view objectivity and to see that every aspect of the issue is considered, NCC saw the consultative forum as desirable.

Earlier, Ndukwe had underscored the SMS as becoming a viewable means of communication as it serves as an alternative to voice, consumer to consumer communications as well as for business communications saying that SMS is even adopted today by some banks in relating various information to their consumers in terms of update of account, transactions and even for sending money from one place to another.

Ndukwe also noted that SMS uses an insignificant amount of system capacity when compared to voice call and that effective use of SMS will lead to decongestion of various networks of operating companies which will ultimately lead to improvement in quality of service generally.

He said the young ones who have embraced SMS as preferred platform of communication in the country are not those who have money and means to engage in long conversations and that by the downward review of the SMS tariff, NCC wants to encourage the youths to be able to have a fairly cost effective means of engaging in communication even as he urged operators to see the review as a means of giving back to about 54millon consumers in Nigeria (in terms of connected lines) especially those who don’t have the means to make long calls.

Representatives of operating companies bared their minds on the issue and showed willingness to cooperate with NCC in the introduction of price-cap regulation for SMS services. NCC will look into the interconnect rates amongst the networks and come up soon with reasonable SMS tariff regime that will be in line with international best practices.