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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced a uniform call rate of N50 per minute for Closed User Group (CUG) call and data services.
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The new price deck takes effect from November 1, 2023 according to the telecoms regulator and will affect network operators including MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9mobile that offer CUG services.
CUG services allow enrolled customer group members to enjoy lower call rates and free on-net calls by paying monthly access fees.
Under the new deal, telecom companies can no longer bundle data with CUG plans which are now restricted to only voice calls and text messages for customers.
“CUG rental/access fee must not be bundled with data, VAS, or other ancillary services” said Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NCC, Prof Garba Danbatta.
New price for text messages
The regulator has also set the price for text messages at N4 per SMS. The minimum access fee for prepaid and postpaid CUG services will now be N400 with a maximum price of N500 monthly.
In addition, calls and text messages within a CUG (on-net) must not fall below N0.50 per minute for voice services and N1.02 for text messages.
Calls outside the CUG (off-net) are subject to a price floor of N6.40 per minute for voice services and N1.02 for text messages.
The CUG services is now limited to six subscriber categories. They are:
- Large corporate organizations (with a limit of 30,000 phone lines)
- Government agencies (20,000)
- Not-for-profit organizations (10,000),
- Duly registered residential estate associations (2,000), and
- Micro, small, and medium enterprises – MSMEs (200)
