It seems relief is on the way for data subscribers in Nigeria who have continually groaned and complained of frequent data depletion and overpriced data subscriptions often perpetrated by service providers.
Nigerian Communications Minister, Dr Isa Ali-Pantami has ordered the Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to investigate the matter urgently.
Pantami made this call after being briefed by the Executive Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, in his office on the activities of the Commission. He also promised that sanctions would be meted out to culpable parties.
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According to Pantami, the goal of the ministry under his watch is to ensure Nigeria is moving progressively.
“I will push all Chief Executive Officers of agencies under the ministry to deliver effective and efficient service to Nigerians in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives.”
Targets would be given: He also stated that all Chief Executive Officers under the ministry would be given a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) regularly.
The minister said, “Under my supervision, there will be monthly meetings to track Key Performance Indicators, KPI. I assure you, everyone will be treated objectively, and we are here to support you to deliver your mandate.”
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According to a Nairametrics report, a recent data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that the leading service provider of the industry, MTN Nigeria, lost 178,103 internet subscribers in June this year.
The data also shows that MTN’s total internet subscribers stood at 52.4 million in May this year, while the number dropped to 52.2 million in June.
Globacom, however, recorded the highest number of internet subscribers in the same period with a 196,000 increase while Airtel gained an addition of 42, 000 to its total internet subscribers.
What you should know: The reason for the decline in MTN’s data subscribers is premised on illegal data deductions which various Nigerians have constantly groaned about. An internet subscriber told Nairametrics that MTN reduced the price of 2Gig data from N1,500 to N1,200, but the rate at which the data got exhausted was unexplainable. He also admitted that he fluctuated between Glo and MTN.
Several reactions from Nigerians indicated their happiness with the new directive.
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See the reactions below.
@AirtelNigeria and @MTNNG data subscriptions exhaust like speed of light. Please, #ReviewDataSubscription in Nigeria. It's high time.
— Sọchima OBIỌRA Bjørn Mb🦁gu III – Nwa ENUGWU-UKWU (@kennycyphers) August 29, 2019
Especial @MTNNG @MTN180 they keep on scamming Nigerians, they can't do that in SA yet they scam us. How can i subscribe for 30days and it ends within a week or 2 weeks? Without even downloading anything. Just social media. Please @DrIsaPantami descend on them to save us.
— Aleeyu Shoaib (@aleeyu786) August 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/oma_apoi/status/1167161087764176896
Dear @DrIsaPantami, I learned that you charge NCC to investigate an illegal Data Deduction by the ISP. This is commendable and I equally implore you to charge them to come up with an idea of establishing "Nigerian Communications Network" though, it'll affect markets competition
— Abdullahi Misilli (@Abdallahmisilli) August 29, 2019
MashaaAllah! I have long been waiting for this. I once bought an MTN data of 2.5GB few months ago, and within 24hours of usage 2GB was gone. 😳 I couldn’t hold it, I had to call them and they 🙅 it. I threatened to stop using their Sim and my 500MB lasted for more than a week🙄.
— MUHAMMED NURAH🇵🇸™️⚖️ (@mm_nurah_ACArb) August 29, 2019
This call is particular to @MTNNG.
— Abdullahi Umar Evuti (@Sir_evuti) August 29, 2019
Well, I once had a similar issue until I checked the data usage on my phone. Maybe, some people need to do the same.