Following the operations of Mobile Network Operators between January and October, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that 19,977 complaints were lodged by subscribers against the service providers.
The complaints had to do with billing issues, quality of service, sales promotion, unsolicited messages and advertisements among others.
Details: Billing issues, according to Guardian reports, include an unexplained change in the account balance and the inability of subscribers to change tariff plans.
On complaints about customer care, subscribers decried their inability to connect to helplines; alledged nonchalant attitude of agents; incorrect response from agents, among other infractions.
On the quality of service in respect of voice and data, the subscribers complained about call interference, inability to receive calls, call divert, call barring, persistent data depletion, and poor signal/no network to mention a few.
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Channels of Complaints: The four channels, which subscribers laid the complaints, are NCC’s Contact Centre (622), Consumer Portal against Service Providers, social media and correspondences.
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Assuring subscribers of adequate protection, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, explained that the exercise was geared towards harnessing extant policies, regulations and guidelines for the protection, information, education and empowerment of telecommunications consumers in Nigeria.
Likewise, Globacom was also fined N2m for an unapproved advert tagged ‘Enjoy non-stop browsing this season of love.’ For its ‘E-Top-Up 8X Bonus’ promo, the NCC, noting that it was not approved and violated the floor price, fined the company a total of N4m for the two infractions.
Globacom was also fined N2m for its failure to provide information regarding its collapsed masts in two sites situated in Jalingo, Taraba State.MTN was fined N2m for not seeking regulatory approval for its ‘Yafun Yafun SIM’ promotion.