As the country’s economic hardship increases the National Communication Commission (NCC) approved a tariff hike for telecommunications companies two months ago. At the same time, MTN, Airtel and GLO have already sent out memos regarding the price increment in their services.
The recent network tariff hike has sent shockwaves through the football community, leaving fans feeling frustrated and disconnected as many lose interest in watching their favourite match due to the increase in data.
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The tariff hike, which took effect last month, has resulted in a significant increase in the cost of watching local football games. Fans who were once avid followers of the sport are now finding it difficult to afford the luxury of watching their favourite teams play.
Research shows that many football fans have lost interest in the sport, as local football fans have reported a decline in their interest in the sport since the tariff hike while many cancelled their subscriptions to football streaming services.
I can’t live stream football match again – User laments
Oluwasegun Oke, one of the MTN subscribers and a lover of football said he rarely goes to the football viewing centre, preferring to livestream matches on his phone. With 1GB of MTN data, he can watch a full 90-minute game without interruption, as he and many others find it more enjoyable at home.
“…but with the hike in the price of the MTN Data bundle, now I can’t live stream football match on my phone again”
“Even at night, I have to go out and watch football matches at night far from my house, like 3 kilometres away,” Oke narrated sadly.
He continued, “As of now I do ₦1,500 for 7 GB weekly data and this data (7 GB) doesn’t last me for 90 minutes to watch a football match live on my phone, before 50 minutes of the match, MTN would notify me that my data is low, trust me I subscribed ₦1,500 for 7gb to watch my club Liverpool play against Newcastle match and before the end of the game MTN has notified me that my 7 GB data remains 500mb, I was shocked and have to quickly subscribe and another 7gb again before the end of the match.”
Adding to the heat, another user named Shola revealed that its better for him to spend N300 at the viewing rather than to subscribe to MTN to use it for live streaming.
“I will just go viewing to watch my ball rather than streaming before i love streaming but have made to stop,” he said.
In the meantime, fans and clubs are left to suffer the consequences of the tariff hike. As the football community struggles to come to terms with the new reality, one thing is clear, the beautiful game is no longer accessible to all.
Recall that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has approved a 50% increase in telecom tariffs, raising call costs to N16.5 per minute but these new rates were aimed at addressing rising operational expenses in the sector.
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