Senate Revives Calls For Pay-As-You-Go DSTV Billing Model

The Senate has renewed calls for a Pay-As-You-Go billing model for DSTV services in Nigeria, questioning why subscribers are charged for channels and services they do not use.

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, raised the concern during the screening of the Power Minister Nominee, Joseph Tegbe.

TVC News Online previously reported that President Bola Tinubu asked the Senate to confirm new ministerial nominees as part of efforts to strengthen his administration.

The President has nominated Sola Enikanolaiye and Joseph Tegbe for appointment as ministers.

READ MORE: APC NWC Waives Screening for Tinubu Ahead of Presidential Primaries

The request was contained in a letter addressed to the Senate and read on the floor during plenary by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

During the session, Senator Akpabio noted that the Pay-As-You-Go model is operational in other countries, including South Africa, and questioned why Nigerian subscribers are denied similar privileges despite paying high subscription costs.

The Senate President subsequently directed the Senate Committee on Telecommunications to invite DSTV to appear for questioning and to report its findings to the chamber.

The clamour for this model of billing has been a conversation that has been revisited over the years by consumers and legislators who maintain that it was a possibility being denied to Nigerians. In September 2022, an ad-hoc committee, following a motion by Senator Abba Moro, invited pay television service providers to a public hearing focused on tariffs and billing models.

The Pay-As-You-Go is a model where subscribers are charged only for the hours or minutes they actively watch television. It is often interchanged with Pay-Per-View, which is where you pay to view one specific event, usually a big-ticket one.