Forex, Multiple Taxation, Others Cause Drop Calls—NCC Boss

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta, has listed multiple taxation, multiple regulations, epileptic power supply, foreign exchange fluctuations and others has factors affecting quality of service rendered by telecom operators in the country, especially drop calls.

However, the NCC boss said these issues were being looked into by the commission.

This, he said, was important to “heighten our regulatory roles to ensure drop calls are reduced to less than 1%; monitor and review KPIs in this regard; strengthen our compliance monitoring and enforcement activities; and continue to educate stakeholders on concerns and misconceptions about Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) radiation.”

Speaking at the Oredo LGA secretariat in Benin, Edo State, where NCC organised the Consumer Conversation, Mr Danbatta said the Nigerian telecom consumer remained the most central stakeholder in the telecom ecosystem.

He pointed out that in 2016, a total of $6.6b was spent by consumers of telecom in the Nigeria, stressing that this figure is expected to increase considering the array of emergent value added services.

Mr Danbatta, represented at the event by the NCC Zonal Controller Lagos Office, Mr Kenneth Uzoekwe, said the Conversation, a programme of the ongoing Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer campaign implemented by the zonal operation department of the commission, was initiated by the NCC to interact deeper with the consumer and exchange ideas in order “to ensure that telecom consumers enjoy an enhanced experience content in time and quality”.

He said the NCC was worried about the challenges telecom consumers face which explained why it declared 2017 as Year of the Telecom Consumer, and in keeping with its mandate to inform, educate and empower telecom consumers, the declaration is to heighten engagement with the consumer to address the challenges.

Mr Danbatta said consumers should activate the Do Not Disturb (DND) 2442 code to curb incidences of unsolicited Short Message Services (SMS) and calls, and added that NCC ensures the code is active in the Operators’ switch and vigilantly monitoring compliance with other directives.

The 622 Toll Free Line is also dedicated to the consumer by NCC to enable the escalation of grievances that may not have been addressed satisfactorily by the operators, he added.

Mr Danbatta expressed commission’s gratitude to the Head of Administration and all stakeholders in Oredo LGA for providing the venue for the Conversation at no financial cost to NCC and for mobilizing the people to ensure the success of the event.