Broadcasting company Multichoice has jacked up the prices of its offerings in Nigeria days after announcing a $72m loss in its financial statement for the third quarter of the year.
Checks on the company’s reviewed price list showed a 20 percent percent hike in the company’s packages across the board.
With the latest price hike, the DStv Premium package increased by 20.4 percent from N24,500 to N29,500. Similarly, the DStv Compact+ has gone up by 19.2 percent from N16,600 to N19,800 while the Compact package increased by 19 percent, from N10,500 to N12,500.
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The Comfam package moved up by 19.2 percent from N6,200 to N7,400. The latest hike made it the second time the company would implement an upward review of prices within six months.
In May, Multichoice had jacked up the prices of its offerings. During this round of price hikes, the DStv Premium package increased by 16.7 percent (N3,500) from N21,000 to N24,500.
Similarly, the DStv Compact+ package had gone up by 16.5 percent (N2,350) from N14,250 to N16,600. The DStv Compact package also rose by 16.7 percent from N9,000 to N10,500. The DStv Confam package, previously priced at N5,300, went up by 17 percent to N6,200.
Confirming the latest hike to The PUNCH, a spokesperson in the company who preferred to speak anonymously blamed the harsh business environment for the hike.
According to the source, the company had to grapple with the devastating consequences of the continued devaluation of the naira, alongside a vast array of challenges including taxation, and logistics, among others.
The source said, “Yes. We have increased our rates. We buy content in dollars but earn in naira. If we take off a channel or stop acquiring content that our customers are used to, we will be slammed.
“We buy diesel. We pay taxes. Even before this year, with the dollar and fuel subsidy removal. We pay billions in licensing fees. We operate several offices. We have to pay staff.”
The latest hike comes after Multichoice reported a third consecutive semi-annual loss, attributing its financial challenges to foreign exchange difficulties in Nigeria and persistent power outages in South Africa.
More troubles loom as the forex crisis deepen
The naira’s free fall, following the floating of the Nigerian FX market in June, has seen a host of multinational companies leaving the country. This year alone, about five multinational companies, including Unilever, GSK, P&G, Sanofi, and Equinor, have left Nigeria citing the forex crisis.
Efforts by the government to tame the tide, including a move by the central bank to clear $7 billion in forex obligation backlog, have proved ineffective even as the consequences accelerate.
Earlier this week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued a warning to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about the potential withdrawal of foreign airlines from the Nigerian market if urgent action is not taken regarding the $790 million ticket revenue currently trapped in the country.
With the threat of more international companies withdrawing their services from Nigeria rising, the government’s efforts to boost naira’s performance have been put under serious scrutiny.
The free fall of the naira is significantly tied to poor oil output, which has yielded insufficient foreign exchange for the country for years. The government had blamed the situation on petrol subsidy payments, which gulped more than $10 billion in recent years, depleting the country’s foreign reserve.
However, the petrol subsidy was removed in June by President Bola Tinubu. The removal is expected to boost Nigeria’s forex earnings and the naira’s strength but it has failed to achieve its aim.
Former CBN governor Lamido Sanusi implied on Friday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) owes Nigerians an explanation on why the country’s foreign reserve is performing poorly.
“Why is the NNPCL not able to bring in dollars?,” Sanusi asked. “This is the question that cost me my job & I will continue asking this question until NNPCL fixes it up or until I die. We are no longer paying subsidies, so where are the dollars?”