Some telephone subscribers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Wednesday, expressed displeasure over the inability of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to stop unsolicited calls and messages from service providers.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had directed that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) from July 1, 2016, activate the ‘Do Not Disturb’ (DND) facility which gives subscribers the freedom to choose what messages to receive from the various networks.
The NCC had placed N5million fine on any MNOs that fails to comply with the directive.
With this directive, the operators have been mandated to dedicate a common short code (2442), which will enable subscribers to take informed decisions.
They said that in spite of the “Do Not Disturb“ Code the unsolicited calls and messages had not stopped.
Mrs Amina Kabiru, a resident of Lugbe in the FCT told NAN that the “Do not Disturb’’ code was not working as she had tried severally while still receiving such messages and calls.
“I don’t understand it, if I need service from the network provider, I should be able to say I need this service from you, can you provide it?
“A lot of people have more important things to do than being disturbed by unsolicited calls and messages, so I think they need to work on it and stop disturbing people,’’ she said.
On his part, Mr Obi Chika a trader at UTC, Area 10 said that he was tired of being distracted with incessant calls and messages by the MNOs.
Chika said that sometimes they send some promotional text messages “that your number has won something; I want to believe these messages are fake because I did not subscribe to any promo.’’
“So I want to advise the regulatory body to take this issue seriously as subscribers are bored with these calls and messages.
“Sometime, they send `to opt out send Do Not Disturb to 2442′ at the end of the message and if even you do, they keep sending the messages,’’ she said.
Miss Henrietta Ogbodu also a trader in UTC, Area 10 said that the frequency of the messages and calls had reduced a bit.
She said that though she still received such messages and calls but it was not as frequent as before.
She, however, called on NCC to put in more efforts to end the act so that people could be at peace, adding, “it can be quite disturbing and distracting.”
Miss Ene Baba, a stylist in Lugbe said that she still received unsolicited messages and calls, adding that network providers should try and address the issue.
“I still receive a lot of these messages and calls and it is not fair on us, please I want the network providers to address the issue quickly.’’
However, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, had assured that the Commission was at the stage of enforcing the DND directive given to MNOs.
“When the commission gets the report, it will do two things; ensure the credit deducted from the consumers for the unsolicited services is returned to the consumers and invoke the N5million fine on the MNOs to ensure total compliance,” he said.
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