Interconnect Debt: Glo’s 47m Nigeria subscribers face breakdown in communication

INTERCONNECT INDEBTEDNESS among operators has culminated in a new height of breakdown in mobile communication as the Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC) granted partial disconnection of indigenous Globacom’s 47.27 million customers from Airtel networks.

The NCC on Friday, October 18, notified the general public in a statement signed by its Henry Nkemadu, its director of Public Affairs, that approval had been granted for the partial disconnection of Glomobile from Airtel networks as a result of non-settlement of interconnect charges the indigenous GSM operator is owing Airtel, a competitor in the market.

The commission further threatened that within 10 days of the notice, Glo customers will be banned completely from advancing communications to Airtel customers.

According to the NCC, Glo was given fair hearing to comment on the application before granting partial Airtel the permission to partially disconnect Glo customers from making calls to its network.

It noted that Glo, however, could not convincingly dislodge the allegations against it by its closest competitor in the market.

The NCC said, “Glomobile was notified at the application and was given opportunity to comment and state its case. The commission has examined that the application and circumstances surrounding the indebtedness determined that the affected operator does not have sufficient reason for non-payment of interconnect charges.”

The Commission said the partial disconnection was in accordance with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA) 2003 and Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators.

NCC further informed Glo customers that at the expiration of 10 days, counting from Friday when the statement was issued to Monday, 28 of October, 2019, Glo subscribers will be bared completely from making call to Airtel lines, although, will be able to receive calls from Airtel.

While the Nigeria’s telecoms umpire noted that the partial disconnection will allow in-bound calls to the Glomobile calls, it maintained that the granted disconnection will subsist until otherwise determined by the commission.

Glomobile currently serves 47.27 million customers representing 26.76 per cent of 176.62 million number subscribers in the mobile telephony segment, while Airtel has 47.92 million or 27.13 per cent of the market share on its network, as at August this year.

In August, Glo customers experienced partial disconnections from MTN network, a development that was based on unsanctioned discordance between the operators, forc