Mobile operators’ unsolicited text messages are rip-offs on subscribers –Ogunbanjo

In the last ten years after the deregulation of the telecoms sector, several issues continue to pitch the mobile network operators against subscribers who, in most cases, are at the receiving end of the telcos’ tariffs and related charges. Rather than abate, the issues, one of which is unsolicited messages being sent to subscribers incessantly, still persist. In this interview with Isaiah Erhiawarien, the President of National Association of Telecoms Subscribers of Nigeria, N
ATCOMS, Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, speaks on the ordeal of subscribers and how the issues have been impacting on the telecoms sector’s growth.

Since the SIM card registration began, there has

been issues surrounding it, what is the present state of the exercise?

I must say that currently the industry is fine, particularly with the new appointment that President Muhammadu Buhari is making. Mr. Shola Taylor is now Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation and we now have Prof. Umar Danbatta as the new Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission. Although we would have wished for an ICT professional as the Minister of Communication but whatever we have becomes the desirable. In a nutshell, we are satisfied with the new appointment made so far by the new government. However, I will like to say that we need to establish continuity in the industry. The former Minister, Dr. Omobola Johnson, did a lot that we must build on. Don’t forget that when she became a minister, she called for a stakeholders meeting and periodically she kept appraising the development and successes of the industry. She also mapped out a broadband development plan as well as a broadband council of which Engr. Ernest Ndukwe is the chairman with other notable stakeholders in the industry as members. They have been doing a lot and we hope that the new minister will make that that continues in that.

Beyond that, the new NCC leader should also look at the issue of compensating subscribers, particularly after fining the operator for an offence, what then happened to the injured subscribers. Perhaps if fine is necessary without the Act of the NCC now they may have to look at all the situation with a human face. And we suggest that whatever fines that the operator is paying to government, 50 per cent of that should be paid to the subscriber as compensation. It is unfortunate that the subscriber that suffers a lot injury is always losing out in the whole fine saga. We want that by 2016 that it is made a definite policy that the subscriber be compensated. We also want the new minister and NCC boss to look into the issue of the cyber-crimes through the mobile phone. What we are saying is that situations where crimes are committed through the mobile phones need to be urgently addressed. They should empower all the divisional police officers in the country to look into cases in their domain with urgency. The DPOs are the nearest person to Nigerians and once a case has been reported to them they should be empowered to take up any case whether committed through text message or voice call with the mobile operator. Mobile phone is currently being used to dupe people almost on a daily basis and that is why all kind of bottlenecks in getting criminal details in the operator’s custody should be made easy for the people. On the issue of unsolicited text messages, we have made several reports to the NCC but there seems not to be any headway. The subscribers are not happy about the trend, because subscribers are losing money through so the two key leaders in the industry should urgently look into it.

Concerning the uncompleted SIM card registration, it is rather unfortunate that since the NCC engaged the seven companies to do the SIM card registration they could not perform.These seven companies did not follow due diligence when they engaged their SIM card registration agents. They actually got a lot of them engaged but in the course of doing their job, the agents rather than asking the subscribers to answer all the questions required to fill the SI card registration they were asking just a few questions, in fact the biometric that they captured were not complete. What I discovered was that most the facial capturing and the finger thumb that they did were not properly done.

Also the mobile operators engaged their own agents, unfortunately they also did not follow due diligence just like the NCC engaged agents. So both NCC and the network operators did not follow due diligence in the conduct of the exercise and that was what has brought us to where we are now.

We have expected that when the NCC noticed that the exercise was not properly done, it should have asked the subscribers to go to the nearest service centre of the operator to complete the registration. But instead, it instructed the mobile operators to disconnect the subscribers without due notice. It is the responsibility of the NCC and the operators to sort out the issue of improperly registered SIM card; it is not for the operator alone as the NCC has done. Both of them should work out a way to ensure that the subscribers do not suffer. You must have heard what happened in Benin City where the customer care centre of a particular operator was vandalised by their subscribers because they were not attended to as when they should. All those crisis concerning the inconclusive SIM card registration, if only the NCC and the operators device a means of sorting out the other aspects of the uncompleted registration through text message. For instance, when it remained just only one question for my registration, the service provider sent me a text message requesting me to answer the question and my line was restored thereafter. The question is why is that this method cannot be adopted by all the operators, instead of subscribers trooping to the customer care centres of the operators? Another truth that I need to reveal here is that those who registered with the network operators never had any issue with their registration; it is only those that used the NCC registration agents that had issues with their registration. So the NCC should look at it and try other means of resolving this issue rather trooping to the service centres of the operators.

Sir, how do you react to the sanction on MTN?

We say that the case of MTN Nigeria is rather unfortunate. Incidentally, they have the largest number of subscribers’ base in the country.

I must say that as a result of that they should be very careful with whatever that they do in the industry. Good enough that they are now sending messages to their subscribers to gather those data, which previously were not obtained during the registration exercise.

To a larger extend, MTN Nigeria has introduced a method, which other operators can adopt. In fact you can even confirm your registration through a short code. And when I did it, I was told that I was duly registered.

My Airtel and Etisalat lines are barred, and I will advise them to adopt the MTN Nigeria method instead of allowing their subscribers to troop to their customer care centre to waste their time.

Concerning the MTN Nigeria fine, I will plead that the Federal Government considers it from the investmentfriendly aspect of it because from the look of things I think it has gone beyond the control of the NCC. It is not proper that the regulator is seen as harsh by the global investment community. It will send a wrong signal across the globe. It is on record that it is the harshest fine that has been imposed on any organisation by a regulator across the world. It is rather unfortunate that this is happening and it is not good that we should be seen as a nation that does not want direct foreign investment in Nigeria, and don’t forget that it has made top executives in the company to lose their job.

For me this is bad sign for the industry, and such the NCC and the federal government should look at the fine again. It should not be more than N400 million. I am saying this because MTN Nigeria has said that N1. 2 trillion is two and half years profit put together. And if it is true, then it is only right that investors lose only one year profit but if they begin to lose two and a half years profit then the company will die.

Fortunately, the new minister said he does not want MTN Nigeria to die, and if it is so then it should not be fined more than N400 million, which is still the highest anywhere in the world. I will appeal that they temper justice with mercy.

Do you think it is proper for subscribers who were wrongfully deactivated to ask for compensation?

Although we understand that the deactivation was based on security reasons but that does not mean that subscribers should be compensated because they are due for compensation. In terms of compensation, Airtel could be said to be doing well by giving subscribers compensation. It actually promised to give its subscribers register who register their SIM cards N10, 000 worth of airtime, which must be fully used within three days but then they should look at a minimum of 30 days to exhaust the airtime.

Also MTN Nigeria is giving N500 to any subscriber that registered his SIM card, and it must be consumed within a period of seven days. But then they should increase the amount.

And we may to go to court on that because if you are compensating the subscriber, then you must have to be seen doing it right. The subscriber should be adequately compensated. Etisalat and Glo is the only network that is not giving compensation to the subscriber.

The quality of service from mobile network operators appears to be falling. What do you think should be done?

To be honest with you, the quality of service from all the operators is dropping daily. Unfortunately again, the regulator lays down the rules for SIM card sales across the entire networks. For instance, the operators are allowed to issue each numbers like 0802, 0803, 0805 and 0809 up to 10 million. But the NCC keeps giving out the number series for the operators without the capacity of their network, and the operators themselves continue to issue out new SIM card at will. In some cases the operators give out free SIM card to Nigerians so that they will have more subscribers on their network, all in the attempt of claiming to be the largest network.

What should be done is that the operators must take into consideration the capacity of their network before going to the NCC for more batches of mobile number series, besides the NCC should be able to monitor the application for more SIM card series effectively. In fact, I know of a particular network operator that will give Nigerians 10 SIM card, and then say all you need do is to registered just one of those SIM card while the other nine will be linked to the only registered one but then the other nine SIM card will be given to friends and family members.

A lot of these things are done because they want to grow their network but then you must satisfy those on the network before attempting to bring new subscribers into their network. The operators are just rolling out new numbers without complimentary rollout of telecoms infrastructure.

The quality of service is so bad these days, and it is among all the mobile operators without exception. Anyway let’s hope that by the time ntel, the new NITEL will be able to take over and I hope that they will be able to bring back fixed wireless phone and data services so that our internet penetration will be improved.

What is your opinion on merger of NCC and NBC; do you think it is long overdue?

It has been the cry of the industry for a very long time. Every stakeholder in the industry will want them to be merged because there are so many benefits that will accrue to Nigerians when they are merger. There are so many spectrums in the possession of NBC, of which when released to the NCC through the merger will go along towards improving broadband internet access and it will not for any reason affect the management of both of them. There are over 50 million subscribers pleading that both government organisations be merged and we are calling on the Minister to expedite action on the merging of the NCC and the NBC.

We also want to plead that the President Muhammadu Buhari direct that both Commissions be merged for the benefit of 180 million Nigerians and150 subscribers. The merging is beyond the power of both Commissions, it is now the duty of the President to take action in the interest of Nigerians.

So many Nigerians in the rural areas are left out of the technology revolution, particularly with regard to the deployment of internet access. How long do you think they should remain like that?

I know that the NCC is responsible for rural telephony penetration and the issue of first national carrier and second national comes to play in this regard. They should actually go into the rural areas of the country and make sure that they develop access to voice and data services.

There used to be a deliberate policy of rural telephony penetration but I don’t know what happened to that policy. Be that as it may, we want the National Assembly to make law that will make all mobile operators to take their services to the rural area.