22.7m subscribers shun unsolicited services with DND

SO FAR, MORE THAN 22.7 million users of telecommunications services in Nigeria have prevented operators from bombarding them with unsolicited service.

This has been made possible by the activation of Do Not Disturb service (DND) on their various Subscriber’s Identity Module (SIM) cards as provided by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

According to Umar Danbatta, the executive vice chairman of the NCC, recently noted that when the commission introduced the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) code in 2015, less than 500,000 people activated the code, but there are now 22,722,366 lines on the DND service.

Danbatta further stated that 98 per cent of the total service-related complaints received from telecoms consumers within a 15-month period, spanning January 2019 to April 2020, have been successfully resolved by the Commission.

On quality of service, he said “the commission has monthly engagements with operators as well as quarterly industry working group on Quality of Service and Short Codes, and is currently monitoring 2G Key Performance Indicators, while the KPIs for 4G are being prepared.”

Meanwhile, he also disclosed that commercial banks in the country owe telecommunications companies over N17 billion following the regulator’s suspension of its Determination on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) pricing last year.

“The NCC, in furtherance of its mandate to protect the interests of consumers and support a robust telecommunications sector, recently announced that it had revised the Determination on the USSD,” he said.

He said Isa Pantami, the communications and digital economy minister had already been briefed on the development with a view to ensuring a quick settlement of the debt.

It should be recalled that the NCC, in a statement released to the media recently, observed that the amendment to its USSD Determination was necessitated by a protracted dispute between mobile network operators (MNOs) and Financial Institutions on the applicable charges for USSD services and the method of billing.

As a responsive and effective regulatory authority, the commission recognises that its policies are not static and may be modified from time to time as circumstances demand, the commission stated.

According to Danbatta, in the interest of the consumers and other stakeholders, the commission revised the Determination previously issued by removing the Price Floor and the Cap to allow MNOs and the banks negotiate rates that will be mutually beneficial to all parties concerned.