Nigeria's telecoms regulator will approve a 50% increase in current tariffs following a request from telecommunications operators, in line with rising costs in Africa's most populous nation, it said on Monday.

Lagos: Mobile telephone and data subscribers in Nigeria will now have to pay more after the government approved a 50-percent increase in tariffs, as the country battles one of its worst cost-of-living crises in decades.

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s shares jumped after the Nigerian government raised telecommunications tariffs by 50% to offset the impact of the collapse in the naira and surging inflation.Most Read

Nigerian stocks climbed higher on Tuesday as the main equity index added 0.8 per cent or N472 billion on the back of the news of an approved 50 per cent upward tariff adjustment by the Nigerian Communications Commission, fuelling demand for the shares of MTN Nigeria.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the 50 percent telecom tariff hike by the Federal Government, tagging it as additional burden on the suffering masses. President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero spoke in a statement made available to our reporter in Abuja,