The Managing Director, MD, of Spectranet Ltd., Mr. David Venn, on Wednesday said Nigerians will no longer pay for voice calls and Short Messaging Service, SMS, on mobile networks before the end of 2019.
Venn made this prediction at an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos.
He noted that with the fast growing usage of social media applications, such as Skype, Imo, Whatsapp, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook Messenger, telecommunications had allowed subscribers to use their data service to make calls and SMS.
Venn said subscribers spend a lot of money buying credit to make voice calls, send SMS and also subscribe to data services at the same time on a particular network.
He explained that even though subscribers still patronised voice and SMS services from the mobile operators, data service was cost- effective, faster to send SMS and make voice calls.
Venn noted that presently, data service providers had been improving on the broadband network provided to customers due to increased patronage in the data services.
The MD noted that in other advanced countries, mobile subscribers no longer paid for the use of voice and SMS on their mobile networks.
Venn said that in the United Kingdom, mobile subscribers make use of Skype application to make calls, as long as the caller and the recipient were connected to data service on their phones.
The MD said telecoms operators were losing huge revenue, especially from their SMS service, with the wide use of these social media.
Venn added that mobile operators would be forced to expand their data network to accommodate the growing number of subscribers that use their networks to surf the internet.
The MD, therefore, urged mobile operators to improve on their broadband service to the undeserved and unserved areas in the country.
He said the company also planned to build more base stations across its coverage to improve broadband connectivity in underserved areas before the end of the year.
Venn urged the Federal Government to make the business environment convenient for the data providers to operate.
He contended that many data service providers had closed down due to the high cost of doing business in the country.
