- Many VAS Providers are full of Sharp Practices – NCC
- Insists Consumers are King & would be Protected
Subscribers in the telecommunication industry may now be finally relieved of pains inflicted by Value Added Service (VAS) providers as auto-renewal of VAS and forceful subscription of Over The Top (OTT) solutions have now been banned in Nigeria.
Government regulator on Thursday said one of the ways to ensure sanity and make consumers king in the telecommunications sector is by scrapping Values Added Services (VAS) with auto-renewal and any form of third party solutions that forcefully subscribe consumers.
Auto-renewal or forceful subscription is unarguably international practice with merit and credible propositions for service growth in telecoms but, the Nigeria Communications Commission(NCC) – the industry regulator- revealed that the commission is disappointed with the volume of sharp practices involve with the run of the business module in the telecommunication industry.
The commission revealed that auto-renewal and forceful subscription have been practised with intricacies that cause the major consumers outcries in the telecommunications sector, stating that after diligent regulatory interventions, the policy of such third party business gimmick has henceforth been outlawed in the sector.
Head, Technical and Network Integrity Department, NCC, Mr Bako Wakil and Mr Efosa Idehen, Director Compliance, Monitoring and enforcement, NCC made this known to the VAS providers during the 1st Annual Nigeria Valued Added Services Stakeholder’s Forum held in Lagos.
The duo told the forum that the Commission would not mind to clampdown on erring VAS providers that will go ahead with the auto-renewal and forceful subscription of such cosumers unsolicited services.
The regulator said erring VAS provider will be punished under the NCC ACT 2003 if found culpabl
According to Idehen the commission is not out to frustrate VAS providers from the industry business ecosystem.
He stated that the VAS sub-sector has volume of advantages and merits as it encourages innovation, creativity and allows payment of utility bills but there are too many bad eggs among the solution providers.
“It increases revenue for the government in taxes which is used in providing amenities for the benefit of consumers. It has contributed in promoting financial inclusion policy of the government and facilitated the creation of wealth for many Nigerians.
” The VAS services also reduce incidence of bank fraud, since most consumers get bank alerts, “he said.
Idehen, however, said that the negative impact exposes consumers to receiving unsolicited messages, fraudulent deductions of consumers credit for VAS services not subscribed for, among others.
“Most subscribers are forced to ask the question: Are the telcos and their third parties adding ‘value’ or ‘pain’ services? Some major consumers’ concerns in respect to VAS services include spam messages, fraudulent bank alerts, forceful subscriptions, among others, “he said
According to Wakil, VAS content developers would have to collaborate with other stakeholders in the telecom Industry as the position of the commission is that consumers are king and they should be given the choice to choose whether they want to renew their subscription or not and not through forceful subscription.
”This collaboration will be needed to drive the proliferation of applications that will meet the needs of consumers. This forum is intended to create more awareness, guide participants in understanding the social and economic importance of collaboration in the telecom world where content is king, ” he said.
Wakil hinted that VAS licensees recorded by the commission in the last few years were an indication of the growing interest in the VAS segment of the telecom industry. And these efforts are again underway on Short Code Harmonisation Projects in the sector.
He noted that the commission had also allocated short codes to about 233 VAS licensees for the provision of different services, which has enhanced service delivery in country’s telecom industry.
