‘How fraudsters swindled us over telecom mast’

Telecommunication consumers in Suleja, Niger State yesterday raised allegation of fraud over installation of telecommunication mast in the area.

The residents, who raised the complaint at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Consumer Conversation Forum, said some unscrupulous elements swindled the community out of thousands of Naira in return of installing telecom mast.

They said some individuals claiming to be staff of telecommunication companies approached the community for allocation of land to install GSM mast for quality network service in the area.

They disappeared after collecting money from the community, the residents lamented.

Other complaints raised at the forum included poor services regarding unsolicited messages, worries about radiation from telecom mast and dropped calls.

Responding, the NCC head of zonal operations, Mrs Helen Obi stressed that telecom masts and towers constitute no health hazards to humans.

She however blamed the dropped calls on power outages at the nearest cellular mast.

Phones automatically connect to the nearest tower when making a call. Once there is power failure at the mast, the call drops.

She assured the residents that their complaints would be looked into.

The forum, she said, was to educate, protect and empower consumers on their rights to quality telecom services and to enhance quality of consumer experience.