The verdict has been made!
For those that don’t know, Multichoice is the parent company of both DStv and GOtv. They’ve been in Nigeria for quite some time now.
A while ago, Festus Onifade, a legal practitioner sued both Multichoice and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission(FCCPC) for the increment in the price of the company’s products.
A tribunal that sat in Abuja refused to grant the suit against Multichoice. In one of its judgments delivered on the suit, the tribunal stated that the power to regulate the price of goods and services doesn’t reside with the FCCPC. According to them, only the president holds the power to regulate the prices of goods and services.
The tribunal also stated that the claimant (the person who filed the suit) failed to prove that Multichoice abused its power of dominance in the market. Apparently, since Nigeria operates a free market economy the argument doesn’t hold water.
The Tribunal also refused to grant the claimant’s request for the company to operate a pay-as-you-view model of billing for all its services. The tribunal, however, ordered the FCCPC to investigate if the company uses that kind of billing model for their goods and services in other countries and report back in 6 months. The claimant’s demand for damages to the tune of 10 million naira was also dismissed by the tribunal.
The major thing to note in all this is that Multichoice for now has the power to increase the prices of their goods and services any time they deem it fit because of the free market system Nigeria operates.
Another positive to take from this story is that you as an individual can decide to take Airtel or MTN to court if they keep increasing the prices of data subscriptions and ask for 10 million naira for damages. I’m not saying you should though. Or am I?
#STATEAFFAIRS is a segment that gives you a quick rundown of various political and state issues as they happen in the most simple, subtle language. In this edition, we are looking at the dismissed lawsuit against Multichoice.
