- Says ICT Fosters Business Growth in Lagos
With 12.8 per cent of the country’s telecoms voice subscribers, and 13.65 per cent of the nation’s internet subscriptions domicile in Lagos State, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) hitherto tipped the state as the telecommunications hub of Nigeria.
Though there are over 152 million telecommunications consumers scattered all over the 36 state of the federation, but the industry regulator Wednesday said over 20million voice subscription and 12.62 million internet connection on operators networks come from the cosmopolitan state.
The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) Profession Umar Dambatta who made this known at the Lagos flag-off of NCC 2017 Year of the Nigerian Telecoms Consumers Forum, reckoned that the consumers made all the success stories from the industry in the nation’s economy.
He said the Lagos flag off of the campaign which came almost two months after the Abuja launch was to give power and share enlightenment to consumers on how to address unsolicited messages from their operators and internet service providers.
He explained that as a regulator, NCC has the mandate to ensure all its stakeholders which also include the consumers are protected and their interests balanced in an atmosphere of fairness, transparency and within the framework of the Nigeria Communication Act 2003 and other subsidiary legislations.
“Lagos being the seat of many key players in the telecommunications sector is at a vintage position in the industry. Consumers should no longer suffer in silence, and that is why we have dedicated a whole year to share enlightenment on how to address the groaning challenges and consumers rip-off by the operators.
“Thus far since the launch of this consumer’s campaign in March 15 this year. We can report some progresses as over one million consumers have activated of the Do-Not-Disturb short code using the 2442 toll. And more subscribers reported their unresolved complaints using NCC’s 622 toll-free lines in the same period.”
Also as part of effort to realize 2017 Year of the Consumer, according to the Executive Commissioner Stakeholders Management, NCC; Sunday Dare, “NCC had dialogued with Mobile Network Operators(MNO), infrastructure providers demanding quality of services are improved immediately.”
He added that “NCC is mindful of the forex challenge faced by the telcos. We have intervened with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Already the interventions have beginning to yield some results.”
NCC Consumers Conversations are going on simultaneously every month in the six geo-political zones of the country. Comedian Helen Paul and Actor Ali Nuhu are on board with the commission to sensitize consumers as the campaign moved across the country.
By the end of the fourth quarter of the year NCC said it will fully measure the impact of the consumer targeted nationwide awareness on their rights and protection and the number of consumers that have activated the 2442 facility.
