Tuesday, 19th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

NCC tasks mobile network operators on service improvement

By Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta
25 May 2017   |   4:17 am
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advocated for improved services to consumers of the various Telecommunication service providers in the country...

A telecoms mast

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advocated for improved services to consumers of the various Telecommunication service providers in the country, urging them to expand their network coverage areas to include rural areas where there are no networks.

The Deputy Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau of the Commission, Ismail Adedigba who spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State, disclosed that the over 150million Telecom users in Nigeria deserved a better deal from the various service providers.

Adedigba who spoke at the “85th Edition of the Consumer Outreach Programme”, organised by NCC to interact with consumers of the various networks, disclosed that the Commission’s policy on compulsory SIM card registration by users had contributed immersely to the reduction of crime rate in the country.

He added that the Commission was working with the various Security Agencies in the country to ensure that those who are illegally selling unregistered SIM cards are arrested and duly prosecuted and warned other people who are still buying unregistered SIM cards from agents of Telecommunication service providers to desist from such act.

Adedigba disclosed that the Commission, with the help of telecommunication service providers had on several occasions provided relevant information to Security agencies leading to the arrest of criminals, especially kidnappers.

He also warned telecommunication service providers in the country to desist from unwholesome practice, saying that the Commission would not hesitate to sanction any defaulter.

According to him, the NCC Consumer Outreach Programme, is one of the ways in which regulators, telecom service providers and consumers are brought together to resolve issues as regard telecom services with the aim of protecting the consumers.

Present at the event were representatives of various Telecom services providers, such as MTN, Globacom, Etisalat and Aitel who proffered solutions to various complaints from consumers from various parts of the State.
Apart from the programme, he said, there were different measures put in place by the Commission to monitor activities and control the excesses of network providers.

His words, “This programme is a form of awareness to educate the consumers on their rights with respect to relevant issues relating to Telecom services being provided by the various service providers. Our aim is to bring the regulator and the service providers together with the consumers to discuss and resolve issues.”

“We have measures put in place to checkmate the excesses of Telecom service providers. We have a dedicated department monitoring the network activities to ensure that the network is performing well in terms of quality of service and we have parametres which we call threshold, below which no network should perform and these parameters are being measured and monitored on monthly basis and this is done to monitor the level of compliance by the network. Report is being generated and anyone of them that performs below the parameters is being checkmated.”

“All the service providers are involved in one infraction or the other, it is only that, that of MTN is very big, that is why everybody knows about it. Occasionally, they make infractions and they are being penalised by a way of fine or warning, depending on the magnitude of the infraction. It is not restricted to any particular network alone but anybody that violates the regulations will be punished according to the prescribed and laid down punishment for the violation,” Adedigba affirmed.

0 Comments