Interconnect Debt: Glo’s 47m Nigeria subscribers face breakdown in communication
As NCC okays partial disconnection from Airtel; threatens stiffer punishment
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, forcing the NCC to intervene.
According to sources, Glo paid a sum of N2.6bn part-payment of interconnect debt to MTN, and then, the latter granted access to Glo customers on its network.
Although, the NCC recently reassured the over 176 million telecoms consumers of their protection from suffering any service disruption as a result of regulatory intervention towards resolving the rising interconnectivity debts among telecoms operators in Nigeria.
The Commission also called on debtor operators to settle interconnect debts owed their creditor networks without further delay to prevent possible revenue drop and customer flight from their networks to competitors.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who stated this in Abuja said, as a consumer-centric telecoms regulatory authority, “the NCC is keen on ensuring that the consumers continue to enjoy uninterrupted service while efforts are being made to address the issue of indebtedness in the industry.”
With the latest development, however, the customers are being impacted negatively as they bear the brunt for their operator’s failure to remit to the appropriate party part of the money already deducted from the customers.
The EVC had described, permission for disconnection was granted to creditor networks, as a last resort towards resolving the huge interconnection debts threatening the health and sustainability.
Towards solving the problem, the President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr Olusola Teniola, called on the NCC to introduce an automated settlement scheme to address the rising debt profile in the industry.
According to him, previous attempts to use disconnection of networks as a solution to the problem did not worked.
“So far, only 25 per cent of the debt had been paid since the last time the NCC issued a warning concerning the level of interconnect debt. We again appeal to the government to consider an automatic clearing system,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS), Deolu Ogunbanjo backed the NCC for making effort to stem the tide of unpaid Interconnect debt in the industry saying however that it is unfortunate that innocent subscribers suffer the consequences.