Business
40% Tariff Hike: Telecom Firms Propose Tax Review, Others
Telecommunication companies under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have said the removal of multiple taxes in the telecoms industry will reduce part of the operational pressure on telcos.
ALTIN sau this, along with regulatory intervention, may ensure that the current pricing regime of calls, SMS, and data is sustained.
Disclosing this to The Tide’s source, Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, said telcos were facing difficulties operating in the nation, which affects their bottom line and cost line.
Recall that Telcos had recently proposed a 40 per cent hike in the cost of calls, SMS, and data as a result of what they call “an unfavourable operating environment”.
Adebayo said, “Multiple taxes affect the operating environment and there are nuisance taxes which are taxes that are not in the statute, and it is in an attempt to collect those taxes that public actors often disrupt telecom services.
“Those types of illegal taxes and levies should be eliminated. The cost and process of collecting them today are offensive and very destructive and that should stop. That is what we are saying. So, there are two things that we are saying.
“The taxes that are not supposed to be, they should be removed. Once those taxes are removed, the actions of public actors when collecting the taxes will end.
“We did say the classification of telecoms as critical national economic infrastructure is very important. This issue of critical national infrastructure comes to bear again, we need this classification to be able to minimise the destruction”, he said.
According to Adebayo, there is a need to remove the barriers to smooth operations in the telecom industry.
He, however, added that even if the government removed these taxes, the current pricing regime might still not be sufficient to cover the operational cost for telecom companies.
He noted that a new pricing regime will be necessary if the regulator does not intervene to help telecom companies.
“Even if the government were to make the environment more enabling, the current pricing regime might not be enough.
“It is a combination of many things, there are many issues we face today, including difficulty in operating environment. So it doesn’t substitute for a price review”, he added.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
