Telecoms subscribers have demanded N583bn worth of free airtime from network operators as compensation for the lingering poor quality of service or face legal action.Telecoms subscribers have demanded N583bn worth of free airtime from network operators as compensation for the lingering poor quality of service or face legal action.
The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, a telecoms consumer rights group, yesterday decried the current quality service provided by the operators.
Speaking with National Mirror yesterday, President of the association, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the drop in service quality had been “affecting Nigerians telecoms consumers adversely in recent times with attendant economic losses.”
He insisted that operators must pay the subscribers a compensation of N5000 worth of free airtime each.
It was learnt that with an active subscriber base of 116.6 million in the country, according to the latest official subscriber data by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and with N5000 paid to each, NATCOMS was demanding about N583bn worth of free airtime from the operators.
Chief Ogunbanjo said subscribers were not deriving maximal value for their money “as the networks are now characterised by frequent hiccups and poor signal or service outage, making subscribers to enjoy only 30 seconds in a one minute call duration.”
Ogunbanjo added: “We have observed with utter dismay the continuous decline in quality of service on mobile networks in past weeks till now.
“From our observation, the current trend set in about two weeks ago after the NCC lifted ban on promos and lotteries activities by the operators, though the service has been raising a question mark since the beginning of the year.
“Though some may think the ugly development is due to the recently-introduced mobile number portability, MNP, but I have a contrary view.”
Ogunbanjo said that the network integrations for MNP technical requirements by the operators took place before the launch of the MNP.
“So, if there were to be any hitches at all, it would have been during the pre- MNP launch.
“Today, most subscribers lose several minutes of calls to poor networks. We lose from poor signal as we spend more to accomplish our communication needs while the operators, on the other hand, make more revenue. We cannot continue this way.
“We are going to write the umbrella body of telecoms firms, which is the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators in Nigeria, this week to tell its members to compensate telecoms subscribers in the country to the tune of N5 000.”
“If this fails, we would have no other option than to drag the operators to court over the losses the poor quality of services cost the subscribers on a daily basis.
“As rights group, we have been advised to be methodical in our demand for compensation and that is why going to court will be our last resort,” he said.
None of the GSM operators contacted at the weekend agreed to comment on the matter.
However, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, confirmed that there had been serious shortfalls in the quality of service within the last one month.
“The commission has got a few complaints about drop in the quality of service in the last few days. But you are also aware that we just lifted the ban on promos. So we are monitoring all that to know what the challenge really is.
“By the end of the month, we are going to carry out a test on all the networks to know how they have measured up with the KPIs.”
National Mirror gathered that the majority of the networks might be found wanting in meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measurements on quality of service to be taken by the NCC in June.
The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, a telecoms consumer rights group, yesterday decried the current quality service provided by the operators.
Speaking with National Mirror yesterday, President of the association, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the drop in service quality had been “affecting Nigerians telecoms consumers adversely in recent times with attendant economic losses.”
He insisted that operators must pay the subscribers a compensation of N5000 worth of free airtime each.
It was learnt that with an active subscriber base of 116.6 million in the country, according to the latest official subscriber data by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and with N5000 paid to each, NATCOMS was demanding about N583bn worth of free airtime from the operators.
Chief Ogunbanjo said subscribers were not deriving maximal value for their money “as the networks are now characterised by frequent hiccups and poor signal or service outage, making subscribers to enjoy only 30 seconds in a one minute call duration.”
Ogunbanjo added: “We have observed with utter dismay the continuous decline in quality of service on mobile networks in past weeks till now.
“From our observation, the current trend set in about two weeks ago after the NCC lifted ban on promos and lotteries activities by the operators, though the service has been raising a question mark since the beginning of the year.
“Though some may think the ugly development is due to the recently-introduced mobile number portability, MNP, but I have a contrary view.”
Ogunbanjo said that the network integrations for MNP technical requirements by the operators took place before the launch of the MNP.
“So, if there were to be any hitches at all, it would have been during the pre- MNP launch.
“Today, most subscribers lose several minutes of calls to poor networks. We lose from poor signal as we spend more to accomplish our communication needs while the operators, on the other hand, make more revenue. We cannot continue this way.
“We are going to write the umbrella body of telecoms firms, which is the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators in Nigeria, this week to tell its members to compensate telecoms subscribers in the country to the tune of N5 000.”
“If this fails, we would have no other option than to drag the operators to court over the losses the poor quality of services cost the subscribers on a daily basis.
“As rights group, we have been advised to be methodical in our demand for compensation and that is why going to court will be our last resort,” he said.
None of the GSM operators contacted at the weekend agreed to comment on the matter.
However, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, confirmed that there had been serious shortfalls in the quality of service within the last one month.
“The commission has got a few complaints about drop in the quality of service in the last few days. But you are also aware that we just lifted the ban on promos. So we are monitoring all that to know what the challenge really is.
“By the end of the month, we are going to carry out a test on all the networks to know how they have measured up with the KPIs.”
National Mirror gathered that the majority of the networks might be found wanting in meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measurements on quality of service to be taken by the NCC in June.
No comments:
Post a Comment