We are no strangers to airtime prices going up against the prescribed price, as a similar occurrence happened last year. Well, the airtime vendors have gone ahead to hike the prices as before, blaming the increase to the new taxes, reports the Daily Monitor.
This comes at a time when the scratch cards are coming to the end of their product line as telecoms are now embracing electronic re-charging to traditional scratch cards.
UCC even banned their use and the month of July was to usher in an era of electronic recharging that is through easy load, Mobile Money, payment through POS machines, through banks etc.
Vendors blame the telecoms for the latest price increase while the telecoms have come out to deny these allegations.
As of this writing, a scratch card that previously cost you UGX 1,000 now goes for UGX 1,100 while one that used to be UGX 2,000 now costs UGX 2,200 in some parts of Kampala. The vendors however attribute the 10% increase to communication from telecoms who apparently cited the new tax regime that came into effect on July 1st as one to blame.
For now we can only wish for official communication from telecoms or the industry regulator, UCC.
Any possible solutions?
These are readily available but electronically and the challenge remains on sensitizing the public to embrace them. The include buying for Airtime through Mobile Money, Easy Load, through POS machines like payway or through the bank.
