Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has assured industry operators of the Agency’s readiness to ensure fair competition and a level-playing field in the telecommunication industry.
The Commission also said it is particularly interested in safeguarding the interest of consumers from abuse of their rights and privilege, and against unfair practices in the telecom service value chain.
Speaking at the NCC Special Day at the 18th Abuja International Trade Fair organized bybthe Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ACCI, the Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau, CAB, at the NCC, Mallam Alkasim Umar, said this commitment is demonstrated by the Commission’s continuous effort to establish seamless programs that will Protect, Inform and Educate (PIE Mandate) telecom consumers through various consumer-centric initiatives.
Speaking on Consumer Education Outreach Programmes, which is one of the initiatives, Umar, said these programmes include the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP), Telecom Town Halls on Radio (TTR), Telecom Consumer Conservation (TCC), Professionals’ Dialogue, Village Square Dialogue, Television (TV) Dialogue, and Trade Fairs such as this one today, NYSC, Student – Campuses
The other initiative, Consumer Complaints Management (CCM), is where the Commission has created various channels of lodging complaints which include: NCC Toll-Free 622 Contact Centre which is available between 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily except on Sundays and Public holidays, Consumer Portal http://consumer.ncc.gov.ng, E-mail: Consumer can send mail to (consumerportal@ncc.gov.ng) Consumer X (Twitter) account @ConsumersNCC, Facebook, Instagram and Written complaints submitted to our Head Office here in Abuja or any of our Zonal Offices in Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano States.
On Development of the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code, Umar, explained that this was established in 2016 for telecom consumers to stop unsolicited text messages and nuisance calls. To activate the FULL DND service to stop all unsolicited messages & calls, Text “STOP” to 2442 and for PARTIAL DND service, Text “HELP” to 2442 to select the type of messages you want to receive.
The Development of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), initiative ensures that telecom consumers can switch from one network to another without changing their original Phone Number while the Strategic partnership with Law Enforcement agencies to protect Telecom Infrastructure prompted thenCommission to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with law enforcement agencies such as the Police and National Security and Civil Defence Corps to help protect telecom infrastructure from vandalization.
Others are Campaign against Sales & Buying of Pre-registered SIM cards to make consumer be aware that buying pre-registered SIM cards is a criminal offense in Nigeria and Campaign on NIN-SIM Linkage – To helps improve security in the country.
Under the Direction on Roll-Over of Data initiative, Service Providers have been directed to Roll-Over unused data at the expiration of a data plan provided it is renewed within the stipulated time frame as approved that One (1) day data plan has one (1) day to renew, Above one (1) day but less than thirty (30) days has three days to renew and Thirty (30) days has seven (7) days to renew.
Also, Telecom Consumer Assistance, Resolution and Enquiries (TELCARE) Desk at the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport Abuja, was set u up to further provide the Commission and serving as additional platform to receive and facilitate the resolution of consumer complaints and provides a platform for telecom consumers to make enquiries on consumer issues, advocacy on any thematic consumer issue or concerns and enhances awareness of the Commission’s activities.
Equally, under the Harmonized Short Codes initiative, the has Commission directed all licensed Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to commence implementation of approved Harmonized Short Codes (HSC) for providing services to Nigerian telecom consumers.
The measure initiated by the Commission is a bid to improve the Quality of Experience (QoE) of consumers across all mobile networks.
The new initiative will enable consumers using the over 223 million active mobile telephone lines in Nigeria to use the same codes to access services across all networks. For instance, the same code *310# will be used for checking airtime balance across all the networks.