The decision of Multichoice Nigeria to adjust prices to effect a 7.5 per cent hike in rates to reflect the new VAT regime on all its services has sparked outrage among Nigerians over the alleged insensitivity of the company to the plight of Nigerians who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some subscribers of GOtv and DStv, took to Twitter to reveal their angst over the message from the satellite television vendor.
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The company had sent out messages saying:
Dear customer, please be informed that effective 1 June 2020, we will implement 7.5% VAT on all DStv services. Visit http://dstvafrica.com to see your new pricing.
Some stakeholders had in the past called on satellite television vendors and telecommunication companies to, in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, be sensitive to their customers by giving freebies.
According to DStv’s website, Premium subscribers, who have been paying N15, 800 should prepare to pay N16, 200; Compact Plus subscribers will now pay N10, 925 instead of N10,650. Those on Compact will pay N6,975 as against the previous N6,800.
Furthermore, customers on Confam bouquet will pay N4,615 against N4,500, while those on Yanga will from June 1 be made to pay N2,565, against the N2,500 previous payment. Those on Padi bouquet will pay addition N50 to put the price at N1,850.
Invariably, the company is saying that it could not shoulder the 2.5 per cent increase in VAT (from five to 7.5 per cent) which was made legal following the signing of the 2019 Finance Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Multichoice, it was learnt, has about 13.9 million subscribers across Africa, with Nigeria accounting for 40 per cent of the customers.
The decision to increase VAT comes weeks after the South African-owned company announced that it will be rewarding its subscribers who have fully paid up their subscriptions, with an upgrade to the next higher package at no extra cost.
