The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta has described the Nigerian telecom consumer as the most central stakeholder in the telecom ecosystem.
The consumer, he stated spent US$6.6b in 2016 and the figure is expected to rise considering the array of emergent value added services.
Danbatta stated this at Oredo LGA secretariat in Benin where NCC organised the Consumer Conversation yesterday.
He spoke through Kenneth Uzoekwe, NCC Zonal Controller Lagos Office, who represented him at the event.
The Conversation, a programme of the ongoing Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer campaign implemented by the zonal operation department of the Commission, is 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”.
The Commission declared 2017 as the Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer having considered the Consumer as the weakest link in the telecom ecosystem. Danbatta told the large audience gathered at Oredo LGA secretariat.
He said NCC was worried about the challenges telecom consumers faced, which explained why it declared 2017 as Year of the Telecom Consumer, and that 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.
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.
Danbatta said the immediate and remote causes of deteriorating Quality of Service such as Vandalism, Multiple Taxation, Multiple Regulation, Epileptic Power Supply, Foreign Exchange fluctuations which have taken a toll on telecom service provision, among others are being addressed.
“This is important to enable us 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”, he emphasized.
Danbatta expressed the 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.
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