As reported earlier today, a Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) sitting in Abuja has stopped MultiChoice Nigeria Limited from increasing its tariffs and cost of DStv and GOtv products and services scheduled to begin on May 1.
The three-member tribunal, presided over by Saratu Shafii, gave the interim order following an ex-parte motion moved by Ejiro Awaritoma, counsel for the applicant, Festus Onifade.
The tribunal, in a ruling, restrained MultiChoice from going ahead with impending price increase schedule to take effect from May 1, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed before it.
Reacting to the tribunal’s ruling, Professor Ndubuisi Ekekwe, the founder and chairman of Tekedia Capital and the lead faculty at Tekedia Institute, a tech-powered business school, operating 100% online, said although the court has aborted MultiChoice’s plan to raise prices of its products, he however disagrees with ‘this playbook by our courts’.
A post on Prof. Ekekwe’s verified X handle reads:
“What a nation: ‘A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, has ordered the stoppage of the planned increase in DStv and GOtv subscription prices by Multichoice Nigeria.’ Yes, a court has aborted MultiChoice’s plan to raise prices of its products.
“Good People, I do not like this playbook by our courts. I hate it when courts influence markets this way. Yes, I do not understand how watching the European Champions League is enshrined in the Nigerian constitution for the judges to become this involved over years, on this matter.
“I do not live in Nigeria to care about DStv. But what I know is that DStv’s core product (European football) is a foreign product, created in Europe. If MultiChoice does its agreements every 5 years, there is a likelihood that it paid for its current rights when Naira was going for say N415/$. It paid the Europeans in foreign currency and never in Naira. If that remains the case, and with Naira hovering around N1000/$, if MultiChoice does not increase price, it has to be assessed for running a charity.
“Last year, MultiChoice recorded massive losses in its business. That is partly coming because it has struggled to align its prices, as courts have made that nearly impossible. Indeed, MultiChoice offers customers multiple choices, but here, it has only a single choice to remain in business: jack up prices since it cannot return to Europe to renegotiate rates because the Naira has crashed! But Nigerian courts do not agree!
“That is unfortunate!”
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