Mr Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman, Association of Telecommunications of Nigeria ( ALTON ) says no current registered member of the association is sanctioned by Nigerian Communications Commission ( NCC ) implicated in call masking.
NCC on Tuesday imposed a range of sanctions on licenses of operators implicated in call masking.
Masked calling is a technique used in e-commerce to protect and cover buyers’ and sellers’ personal phone numbers as private.
Adebayo told our reporter on Wednesday in Abuja that his members were responsible corporate citizens who operate according to the laws.
“We are delighted that in the report issued by NCC, there is no current registered member of our association that was involved.
“And what it also goes to show is that our members are responsible corporate people who operate according to the laws.
“They work according to the terms of their licenses, so the assurance we will continue to give is that as responsible association we will continue to comply with the rules of operations,’’ he said.
Adebayo said ALTON as a responsible corporate organisation and with the amount of investment by its members in the country suggested they had to take rules and regulations guiding their operations seriously.
The ALTON Chairman also assured subscribers that operators would continue to provide best services.
“As an industry that provides infrastructure for many other sub sector of the economy, we will continue to do our best to contribute to national economic development
“I am delighted about the report by the Bureau of Statistics on the new Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) that the number of sectors playing critical roles in the development of the economy were supported by the telecom sector,’’ Adebayo said.
The big players in the telecom sector such as MTN, Airtel, Globacom, Nine Mobile, are registered members of ALTON.
NCC barred over 750,000 numbers assigned to several Private Network Links (PNL) and Local Exchange Operator (LEO) licensees, which number ranges were found to have been utilised for the practice of call masking.
It listed the licensees whose numbers have been barred to include Vezeti Communications Services Ltd., Voix Networks Ltd., Mobitel Ltd., Peace Global Satellite Communications Ltd.
Others are ABG Communications Ltd. Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Ltd., Swift Telephone Networks Ltd. QVODA Telecoms Ltd., Wireless Telecoms Ltd. Emcatel Networks Ltd.
