CPC backs NCC on sanction of mobile operators
The Consumer Protection Council has commended the Nigerian Communications Commission for its plans to sanction mobile network operators that are involved in forceful subscription to value-added service and illegal airtime deduction.
The Director-General, CPC, Babatunde Irukera, in a statement issued on Friday, noted that a comprehensive investigation into persistent consumer complaints on unsolicited value-added services and airtime depletion led to the decision to protect consumers of telecoms services.
“That this unprecedented yet important initiative to protect consumers was the outcome of a long and comprehensive investigative audit that was industry-wide is laudable, and corroborates the validity, and accuracy of incessant and persistent consumer dissatisfaction and complaints with respect to these issues,” the CPC DG said.
While commending the NCC for its effort and intervention, Irukera assured the NCC of CPC’s commitment to improving consumer experience in the telecommunications sector and determination to continue the enduring partnership with the NCC in order to accomplish the objective.
The NCC, in a statement on Wednesday, said the sanction was necessary as a two-year investigation into VAS subscriptions across all MNOs revealed large volume of VAS that was not voluntarily subscribed to.
The Nigerian telecoms regulator said mobile operators would be made to refund the illegal airtime deductions which it was gathered amounted to N36bn.
NCC informed subscribers that it might suspend or decommission some VAS platforms and services to protect them, adding that there would be minimal inconvenience to customers.
Due to regular consumer complaints on the quality of service in the telecoms industry, a joint investigative committee made of CPC and NCC was constituted in September this year to investigate the quality of service and other consumer issues in the industry.
The committee was charged to investigate service quality and other issues such as call masking, unsolicited subscriptions, difficulty with unsubscribing to billed value-added services, and transparency in billing with respect to clarity, data rollover, disclosures about real consumption, deductions for value-added services and other key telecommunications services.
Speaking at the inauguration of the JIC, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, NCC, Mr Sunday Dare, stated that the agencies agreed to form a committee in response to the letters received from the Presidency and the National Assembly on “the increasing rate of dropped calls and other unwholesome practices by telecommunications network operators in Nigeria that have robbed Nigerians of their hard-earned billions of naira.”