Subscribers task MNOs on improved services

NCC assures of improvement

Telecommunications subscribers have again tasked Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on the need for improved service delivery in the country.Gathered last Thursday at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organized Consumer Outreach Programme, the 20th Consumer Town Hall Meeting, held at Sangotedo, Ajah, 90 per cent of subscribers who attended, lamented the menace of unsolicited Short Message Service (SMS); drop calls; illegal airtime deduction, among others.

Despite recent warnings handed the service providers by the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu and the NCC, especially on the need to stop bombarding subscribers with unsolicited text messages, subscribers said the menace has remained unabated.

An Airtel subscriber, Joy Akalefu, lamented that she was always bombarded with messages she never wanted. According to her, apart from several unwanted text messages, “my credit is also deducted. They will say caller ring back tunes, N50 is removed from little airtime.”

For Ajayi Omotayo, an MTN subscriber, he used to get messages on a daily basis titled: “MTN Gadget Care’, “I have called 180, they asked me to press some buttons, which I have done, but the menace is still there and they deduct my money. Please, tell them to remove it. I don’t want anything of such.”

Globacom subscriber, Emeke Andrew, also lamented that he still get messages he never wanted on his network. According to him, this is a serious issue, which requires further checks from the regulator, “because I don’t know why orders will be given and the operators will not comply. If it continues, it shows that they are really making serious money from it and they find it difficult to stop.”

Emerging Market Telecommunications Service firm trading in Nigeria, as Etisalat was not also spared.One of its subscribers, Alhaji Sikiru Alamu, who spoke in Yoruba, said, “the network has encouraged the menace. I used to get messages I don’t want, even very early in the morning. For example a particular message with the code 361: Hello your VideoStore subscription has been renewed. Service costs N20/day. To Download videos click http://videostore.ng. To unsubscribe, texts STOP to 6363.“I have times without number sent stop, but the message kept coming. I don’t know what to do again”, he lamented.

These and many more of such complaints rented the air, as subscribers demanded faster solution to the menace. The subscribers also charged the operators on the need to improve on quality of service offerings; opening of more customer care centres and stop fraudulent airtime deductions.

Officials of the MNOs, who were present at the venue, appealed to the subscribers to be calm that the identified telecommunications firm would resolve the challenges as fast as possible.

For instance, Samuel Okoh, who works with MTN, urged subscribers to activate the DND 2442 code to stop any messages that they considered troublesome to them.Okoh said MTN is working to ensure it continues to provide the best of service to its 58 million subscribers in the country.

Doye Soreh from Etisalat said the firm has complied with NCC’s directive on the DND issue, stressing that any subscriber who doesn’t want to get any message should activate the 2442 code, “within 24 hours if there are no network challenges, it will be activated.”

On deductions as a result of caller tune activation, Olayeni Omoyemi of Airtel, said affected subscribers can send STOP to 791 “and such issue would be resolved immediately.”

Representing, the Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano, the Deputy Director, Consumers Affair, NCC, Femi Atoyebi, who said the meeting was to educate all ICT users in the country about their right and priviledges, noted that all the commplaints raised at the forum would be resolved amicably because of the monitoring mechanism the commission is employing.

Atoyebi said the ‘Do Not Disturb’code is all about stoping unwanted text messages, saying consumers are at liberty to subscriber to service or products, adding that there is also the liberty to unsubscribe.

“Now if you don’t want to be disturbed, you send STOP to 2442. But, we need to stress the fact that it is not all messages that are bad, some are quite educative, some give information about the weather, traffic, health, sport, among others. There is what we call full DND, that is don’t even bother me and there is partial DND that is on issue of education send message to me, but on music, I don’t want. That is why the option of 2442 has been provided and the particular message you don’t want will stop coming. So, if you ban all text messages from coming in, you will not know when the message that will be beneficial to you will come.

But as I have said, consumers are at liberty to choose what they want”, he stated.According to him, NCC would monitor all the operators and ensure compliance, stressing that anyone that failed knows the consequences.