Nigeria may bring back a 5per cent excise tax on telecom services, according to the 2024 Finance Bill passed by the Senate last week.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON

The tax would apply to data transmission and voice calls.

First introduced in 2020 under the Mohammadu Buhari administration to widen the tax base, the measure was suspended in 2023 by President Bola Tinubu due to rising inflation.

With the budget under pressure, the government is now considering reinstating it.

Telecom operators warn that the tax would raise service costs and make it harder to close Nigeria’s digital divide, which still leaves more than 40% of the population without internet access.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said the proposal lacks detail and would increase the financial burden on users.

“We’ve had no clarity on how the 5% tax would be implemented, but the burden will fall on the consumer.  Telecoms should be treated as a social good, not taxed like luxury items. No one taxes telecoms like this in countries where infrastructure is taken seriously,” he said.

ALTON also noted that operators are already subject to 54 different taxes nationwide.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has not yet received the official version of the bill for review.

The GSMA released its latest ‘Global Spectrum Pricing Report’, highlighting that average spectrum prices have not reduced in line with operator revenues over the last decade — putting significant pressure on their ability to invest in essential network infrastructure.

The report shows that, whilst both consumer prices for mobile services and the average cost of spectrum have fallen, the overall cost burden on mobile network operators (MNOs) has actually risen sharply. Global cumulative spectrum costs now account for 7% of operator revenues, a 63% increase over the past ten years.

Meanwhile, the average revenue generated per megahertz (MHz) of spectrum has declined by 60% over the same period. Although costs per MHz have fallen by up to 75% in some bands since 2014, operators have increased spectrum holdings by 80% over the same period to cope with bandwidth demand, driving up the overall cost.

A gigabyte of data is far more affordable today than ten years ago, with operators experiencing a staggering 96% fall in revenue per GB between 2014 and 2024. However, these falling revenues, when combined with the proportionately high cost of acquiring spectrum, restrict operators’ ability to invest in expanding and improving mobile networks, particularly 4G and 5G. The report shows that higher spectrum costs correlate directly with lower network coverage and reduced mobile speeds, impacting consumers and slowing the development of digital economies worldwide.

Vivek Badrinath, Director General of the GSMA, said: “The mobile industry sits at the heart of the digital economy, enabling services and opportunities that transform lives. But a dollar can only be spent once, and high spectrum costs can choke investment at a time when the need for affordable, reliable connectivity has never been greater. Governments and regulators must prioritise spectrum pricing that reflects market realities and fosters long-term digital growth. By ensuring spectrum is affordable, they can unlock faster network expansion, better service quality, and greater digital inclusion for all of their citizens.”

The Global Spectrum Pricing Report also highlights that public policy choices — such as setting artificially high reserve prices, creating artificial scarcity, and attaching onerous licence obligations — have often contributed to inflated spectrum costs. In some countries, spectrum costs can reach as high as 25% of operator revenues.

The GSMA urges policymakers to adjust spectrum prices in line with current market conditions and the economic realities faced by operators. With nearly 1,000 spectrum licences set to expire worldwide by 2030, upcoming renewals present a critical opportunity to reset pricing policies to drive investment in the next generation of mobile networks.

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today launched MSP Elevate, a new business-accelerating program for managed service providers (MSPs). With the new program, Sophos enables MSPs to expand their business with high-value, differentiated cybersecurity offerings that elevate their customers’ cyber defenses and rewards growth with additional investment to fuel further success.

With the increasing complexity and sophistication of today’s cyberattacks, organizations are increasingly turning to MSPs for 24/7, human-led monitoring and management of their cybersecurity environments. This has made Managed Detection and Response (MDR) a major focus for MSPs with 81% currently offering a MDR service, according to the Sophos MSP Perspectives 2024 report.

MSP Elevate helps MSPs to differentiate themselves as a high-value provider to customers by delivering unique business-enhancing benefits, including an exclusive high-value Sophos MDR service offering.

Managing multiple cybersecurity platforms is a major overhead for MSPs and consumes valuable billable hours. MSPs estimate that consolidating on a single platform would slash their day-to-day management time by 48%.

MSP Elevate includes Network-in-a-Box bundles that enable MSPs to manage the full network stack through the unified Sophos Central platform, freeing-up staff for business generation activities.

Furthermore, the single biggest perceived risk to MSP’s businesses is the shortage of in-house cybersecurity expertise.

Sophos’ network solutions respond automatically to threats across the customer environment, enabling MSPs to elevate their customers’ defenses without adding workload.

“MSP Elevate is the first of many business-driving MSP programs following the powerhouse union of Sophos and Secureworks,” said Chris Bell, senior vice president of global channel, alliances and corporate development.

“As a channel-first organization that defends more than 250,000 customers of MSPs, we are constantly looking for opportunities to reward our partners and invest in their success when they grow their business with us.

“MSP Elevate fuels long-term growth for our partners by providing MSPs with exclusive solution access, discounts, rebates and training to deliver the best possible value to customers.”

Sophos MSP Elevate program benefits include:

· Exclusive Access to the Sophos MDR Bundle for MSP: Includes access to Sophos MDR Complete premium service tier with 24/7 incident response, 1 year data retention, Sophos Network Detection and Response (NDR), and all Sophos integration packs, enabling defenders to leverage all available telemetry from across the customer environment to accelerate threat detection and response.

· Simplified Sales Process: Speeds up time to deployment and reduces MSP overhead. With the new MDR Bundle for MSP, partners can quickly and easily allocate a single SKU to the customer for all their current and future MDR needs.

· Discounted Network-in-a-Box Hardware Bundle: Access to Sophos’ advanced network security solutions, including Sophos Firewall, Sophos Switch and Sophos Wireless Access Points at a significant discount. These products work together to automate threat response and are managed through Sophos Central.

· Growth-Based Rebates: As part of our commitment to grow with and invest in our partners, the program will recognize and reward MSPs that increase their Sophos MSP monthly billings.

· Architect-Level Training Courses: Equip MSPs to increase their in-house services delivery capabilities with trainings on Sophos Endpoint and Sophos Firewall.

· Invite-Only Access to Sophos Summits: Gain exclusive access to hands-on training and enablement, Ask the Experts sessions, attend exclusive Sophos events and meet with Sophos executive leadership to influence the Sophos roadmap and MSP strategy.

· Future benefits: Introduction of new program benefits to increase MSP’s profitability, customer defenses and overall value as a service provider.

“MSP Elevate enables MSPs to quickly deploy a comprehensive MDR service that eliminates blind spots by leveraging all available telemetry from across the customers’ environment,” said Raja Patel, chief product officer, Sophos. “This enhanced visibility accelerates threat detection and response while delivering improved return for customers on their existing technology investments. Furthermore, the service adapts seamlessly as the technology environment evolves over time, future-proofing customers’ defenses and providing both commercial and cybersecurity peace of mind.”

MSP Elevate is a non-exclusive commitment to sell Sophos’ best-in-class cybersecurity solutions available on the Sophos Central platform, including Sophos MDR, Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, and Sophos Firewall. To access the program benefits, MSPs need to commit to a minimum monthly spend for a 12-month period. As a pre-requisite to joining MSP Elevate, partners need to be part of the MSP Flex program, which enables MSPs to offer Sophos solutions on a monthly billing basis.

“Joining MSP Elevate is a no-brainer. This new program adds further rocket fuel to the MSP growth trajectory we’ve enjoyed with Sophos over the last 17 years. Not all MDR offerings are the same, and I’m excited to be able to offer a superior service based around value and quality of outcomes that will elevate my customers’ defenses and differentiate my business in this increasingly crowded market,” said Craig Faiers, sales director, Arc.

With 80% of MSPs offering MDR through a specialist vendor for delivery*, partners can choose to have Sophos fully deliver the MDR service or to use Sophos to augment in-house teams, including for the provision of out-of-hours coverage. This is particularly important considering 88% of ransomware attacks start outside of standard business hours, according to Sophos’ Active Adversary report.

Sophos MDR is the service most trusted by MSPs to secure their clients and currently defends more than 18,000 MSP-managed customer environments against advanced threats, including ransomware. This unmatched breadth of customer coverage delivers unparalleled insights into attacks on MSP-managed environments that are continually leveraged to update customers’ defenses in real-time, optimizing their protection from ever-evolving attacks.

To learn more about MSP Elevate, visit www.sophos.com/elevate. Sophos partners can sign up for the MSP Elevate Program on the Sophos Partner Portal at https://www.sophos.com/en-us/partners/partner-portal.