Author: Wol Mapal | Published: 5 hours ago
Minister Ateny Wek hosts MTN top management over internet tariffs|Courtesy
The Minister of Information, Communication Technology and Postal Services, Ateny Wek Ateny has pledged to reduce the burden on mobile and internet service providers to make internet access more affordable for users.
This came on Thursday after an extensive meeting with Zain CEO, Philippe Hanna over the exorbitant Internet and communication rates in the country.
In a statement on ICT and Postal Service’s Facebook page, Ateny told Zain that internet is a human right and South Sudanese deserve affordable rates to enable them communicate and benefit from the goodies that come with internet services especially education and businesses transactions.
He argued that the cheaper the internet and communication charges the better since the mobile and internet service providers has a market of over five (5) million mobile and internet users in the country.
Ateny Wek, once a popular social media vocalist was recently appointed to the docket of ICT and Postal Service.
During a thanksgiving ceremony at his house in Gudele last weekend, Ateny promised to call the telecom companies operating in South Sudan to find out the reason behind high tariff charges.
Before his appointment, he once criticized the Ministry of ICT and Postal services for what he described as abandoning citizens to cruel charges by telecom companies.
He blamed the government for prioritizing collecting taxes from companies and forgetting that consumers need to be protected from being harmed by such tariffs.
Early this week, Minister Wek demanded a technical explanation from MTN South Sudan over what he described as ‘unreasonably high and steadily rising tariffs.
He stated that citizens are struggling under the weight of escalating communication costs.
