Consumers are now ‘kINGS’ in the Nigeria telecoms industry. Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC)-the KINGMAKER- is educating the consumers on their rights and privileges as KING. Policies have been formulated and programs underway also to subject Mobile Network Operators, Internet Service Providers and Content Providers to the King’s choice and options in their services, DAYO PAUL reports.
Gone are those days when the over 154 million subscribers on the major telecommunication service providers network log are treated as a second-class citizen in the Nigeria.
More emphases is now placed on consumers education, rights, privileges, options, choices, and powers by the government in the country through the Nigeria Communications Commission(NCC), the industry regulator, that have formulated policies which give the consumers more powers to control their service providers.
The fresh policy is binding on Mobile Network Operators(MNOs), Internet Service Provider(ISPs) and Content Providers especially in areas of dispute resolutions, complain channel mechanism, Service quality, telemarketing and Short Message Sent(SMSs) which give network subscribers choice and options more than ever.
The subscribers are now like employers in the labour market that have the prerogative to hire and fire any erring operator and can also determine by way of controlling telemarketing messages which are mostly unsolicited as subscribers mostly do not bargain for it.
“My network operator can send more than 20 messages to me advertising their products and services and not to talk of the ones most independent and cooperate marketers channeled through their networks. Some will even call you. And all these come as disturbance and unbar-gain for.
“The trend is so common with all the mobile network operators leaving their subscribers to live by it without choice. But with this new intervention and development from NCC, the operators have no choice as consumers now determine the flow of message to receive from the network services and if we don’t want it at all we now have our choice and option to exercise,” Adebimpe Sanni, a subscriber with one of the telecoms told our correspondent in Lagos recently.
WHAT NCC DID
On March 15, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta launched a national consumer targeted campaign in the sector which emphasizes telecoms subscribers’ protection and education.
This came as the regulator developed a code tagged ‘Do-Not-Disturb’ using the 2442 facility binding on all the network service providers to activate on their network. This invariably gives subscribers control over the machine messages from their network service providers with more other options.
According to Danbatta Nigeria telecoms subscribers can now text “STOP” to 2442 to avoid unsolicited messages and “HELP” to 2442 for options. Should customers complaints are not satisfactorily resolved with their operators the industry regulator can now swiftly swing in through NCC 622 toll free line.
The Lagos state flag-off of the Year of the Consumer, was held recently in Ikeja, is focused on two key areas: improving the Quality of Service; Protecting and Educating the Consumer. In attendance was the state government, league of the mobile network operators, internet service providers and industry watchers and cross section of telecoms consumers associations.
The Speaking at the launch, Executive Vice-Chairman of the commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta stated that the Lagos launch emphasizes the position of the state as the telecommunications hub of Nigeria
“Lagos State is home to many of the key players in the telecommunications sector so it is understandable that is has been selected as the flag off city after the major event in Abuja on March 15 2017,” he said.
Quoting the latest Telecommunications Report from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, Danbatta puts Lagos voice subscriber base at 19.04 million or 12.8% of the country’s subscribers and 12.62 million internet subscription or 13.65%.
He added that the campaign since the launch in Abuja two months ago has yielded some progress resulting in an increase in the activation of the Do-Not-Disturb shortcode using the 2442 facility, by more than one million consumers in this short span. He disclosed that more subscribers reported their unresolved complaints using NCC’s 622 toll-free lines in the same period.
On his part, NCC’s Executive Commissioner (Stakeholder Management) Mr Sunday Dare, noted that the Year of the Consumers Campaign is significant because it was the first time the NCC will single out the consumer and dedicate a year of activities towards safeguarding the rights, protecting the interests, and empowering the consumer to make informed decisions
“The consumer is one of the key stakeholders in the stakeholder ladder of the NCC. With a base of over 154 million subscribers, the Nigerian consumers dominate the African telecommunications landscape,” he asserted.
Dare promised that NCC will strive to ensure customer satisfaction and attains a level never witnessed before, adding that the goal is to make the consumer experience of the average Nigerian better.
What MNOs and ISPs Say about Consumers
Mobile network representatives present at the flag-off campaign in Lagos took a turn to share their stances on the consumer initiative; this, however, cme after the NCC had met with these operators on different occasions in Abuja on the subject matter.
They told consumers at the Lagos forum that the Do-Not-Disturb code is active on their networks and they have expanded their customers’ services networks in other to give adequate attentions to consumers’ complaints and challenges in shortest time and best service delivery without any need to complain to the regulator.
Some of the operators present and spoke at the forum include, MTN, GLO, Etisalat, Airtel, Smile, Ntel, Spectranet, among others while advocacy associations including National Association of Telecoms Consumers,(NATCOM) Association of Licensed telecommunications Companies(ALTON), Association of Telecommunication Companies(ATCOM) among others.
WHY LAGOS STATE BACKS NCC CONSUMER EDUCATION- OBASA
The Lagos State House of Assembly commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for tagging 2017- Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumers which emphasizes the protection and education of telecom consumers.
Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the House of Assembly, who spoke during the Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumers Lagos flag-off in Ikeja, said NCC’s regulatory expertise has paid off in the industry that boasts of about 155million subscribers with about 20million of them domiciled in Lagos.
Represented by Mr. Tunde Braimoh, member representing Kosofe II Constituency in the House, Obasa said the state would support initiatives that will lead to consumers’ education and improved service delivery among operators. He said the House will not shy away from issues related to telecommunications activities and the stakeholders, because of the relevance to the affairs of the populace.
He said,“NCC has done very well with regards to issues of consumer protection and the regulatory initiatives that lead to improved quality service delivery to the people. As the representatives of the people, Lagos State House of Assembly will not shy away from telecoms activities, because they touch the affairs of our people.
“However, we are been inundated with petitions regarding issues in the industry which informed our desire for easier channels to communicate with the regulator in finding lasting solutions to these challenges. Having said that, it is commendable that NCC’s regulations have paid off; for without such, there wouldn’t have been the improvement of the quality of service. We believe that the theme for this campaign will further endear NCC as consumer friendly regulator”.
The speaker also urged the NCC to mandate mobile network operators to also launch consumer products beneficial even to the downtrodden.
