Friday 21 March 2008, 9:37 PM

NCC grasps at straws to save telecom consumers in limbo- Contd.

Posted by Doregos

Nigerian Cellcos Subject to Fresh Ban

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has imposed a blanket ban on all four GSM cellcos preventing them from putting out adverts to attract new customers. The move follows ongoing complaints about network quality from customers and allegations that the networks are adding customers faster than the network expansion can cope with them. The local marketing industry is also expected to be hit by the NCC’s ban, as it earns a high proportion of its income from the four cellcos MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Celtel Nigeria and M-Tel. It is not clear if ongoing promotions, for instance Globacom’s raffle of 500 cars, will also have to be suspended. A similar ban was imposed in July 2007 and was subsequently breached by Globacom, resulting in an NGN5 million (USD39,900) fine. In December that year, MTN was threatened with the revocation of its licence by the House of Representatives.

NCC’s Head of Public Affairs Dave Imoko said in a statement that new service testing equipment recently acquired by the regulator has shown that all GSM operators are allegedly performing short of the minimum threshold set. ‘[They] were grossly in default on several key performance indicators for ascertaining quality of service,’ he said, adding that following these results, a fresh ban has been imposed barring GSM operators from sales promotions that may add more subscribers to their congested networks.
Concerning rings of telecom scam, the attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to the fact that some unscrupulous persons purportedly acting as consultants, agents or facilitators to persons desirous of obtaining licenses for telecom undertakings have been defrauding innocent people. In the process these fraudsters have forged several licenses, letter headed papers and stamps of the Commission while some members of the public have been defrauded of various sums of money. The Commission is presently collaborating with security operatives to deal decisively with reported cases.
The Commission states that it has not appointed any person as consultant for obtaining licenses and reiterates that it operates an open door policy whereby prospective licensees can approach any office of the Commission and apply for any category of license. The Commission is always reviewing its processes and procedures to ensure that its services are readily accessible to all stakeholders in the country.
The Commission has simplified the licensing process and has Zonal offices in the 6 geo political zones of the country furthermore prospective licensees can get adequate information on the Commission’s website. The locations of the Zonal offices are as follows:
Lagos Zonal Office
9A Bankole Oki Street,
Ikoyi, Lagos.
Tel:- 01-4630643-5, 4630309, 2690568, 2690595

Kano Zonal Office
1 Sokoto Road,
Kano.
Tel:- 064-319999, 665772

Enugu Zonal Office
7 Egerton Street, GRA,
Enugu.
Tel:- 042-251538, 250435, 2306688

Ibadan Zonal Office
19, Osuntokun Avenue,
Old Bodija,
Ibadan
Tel:- 02-8104303, 700701

Port Harcourt Zonal Office
23A Igbodo Street,
Port Harcourt.
Tel:- 084-233055, 239942

In view of the recent happenings, the Commission wishes to alert the public on the activities of these unscrupulous people, members of the public are hereby encouraged to report any suspicious activity to any offices of the Commission.
(Story captured from TeleGeogrphy's CommsUpdate- http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=21715&email=html)

-Dis na Naija!

-doregos


Tributes:
TeleGeogrphy's CommsUpdate - http://www.telegeography.com

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