F.O.C. credit and telecom operators
Since the ban on all promotions
being offered by telecommunications operators in the country by the industry
regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), divergent views have
erupted for and against the bold step.
Noteworthy is that in the lifespan
of this administration at NCC, there seems to have been a kind of gut display
by the regulator to assert its position in the current dispensation.
Although, all the four Global System
for Mobile Communication (GSM) operators and Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) counterparts were affected by the NCC ban, obviously for the regulator
to recapture the activities of these operators that was quite becoming
unbecoming. It must be stated that all of them may not be guilty of network
congestion, so it is apt to highlight some of the offers that aided NCC action.
Investigations by DigitalSENSE Business News revealed that
mostly GSM operators offer one free credit bonus on calls daily or another,
which worsened the deteriorating networks since the last penalty on poor
quality of service was pronounced, as the number of operators cling to
five-times your recharge.
From Glo, …
Despite the network challenges that
has persistent on Glo, the mobile operator within these period choose to offer
free 500 per cent call bonus, which induced subscribers on the basis that they
recharge and use up the daily target.
Also, Glo 500 per cent call bonus
is only for on-net calls and expires by before 12am every day, thereby
literally forcing subscribers struggle to use up in the name of enjoying the
Glo 500 per cent call credit bonus, that is after activation by sending the
world ‘bonus’ in an SMS to 4567. Incidentally, getting the bonus may not be
much of headache, but using it to make the calls was an uphill task, thus
making Glo to rank first among the affected operators.
For MTN …
Aware of its lead in the mobile
market in Nigeria, MTN offering of five times bonus by crediting customers with
500 per cent of the individual required daily usage once a customer spend up to
or exceed the daily usage. And it’s only available to pre-paid subscribers.
The bonus, it was gathered, expires
at 12 midnight everyday and could only be used only for on-net calls but the
assigned daily usage is based on airtime used for on-net and off-net calls with
the exemption of international calls.
On MTN network, customers does not
require to send a special code, it only requires customers to opt-in by dialing
*507# and do the normal recharge process and the bonus is receivable once a
day.
And from Airtel 5X to Etisalat daily pass:
Equally, the Airtel 5X offer gives
free 500 per cent call bonus to on-net calls on using the specified daily
target and expires by 12am every day. To get the 500 per cent bonus subscribers
only need to activate by dialing *470#, after which the subscriber would
receive a message notifying of the daily target.
Etisalat Nigeria tagged its bonus
‘1 Day pass’ offering 100 per cent bonus on usage of N100 and subscribers could
get the bonus more than once on using up to N100 subsequently. While bonuses
from other operators can also be use to make on-net calls, Etisalat’s 1 Day
Pass bonus can be used for on-net, off-net, international calls, browse and
SMS.
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| Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC |
Therefore, these free credits by
all the GSM operators, no doubt, generated a lot of issues of which poor
quality of service is key as subscribers are expressing difficulties in getting
calls through even with the bonus or without the bonus.
Johnson foresaw the ban:
The Communications Technology
Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, may have foresaw the ban, when she publicly
lamented the rise in poor quality of service, which she attributed to numerous
promos by operators which is increasing traffic on their networks.
So many industry watchers were not
surprised when the telecommunications regulator came to town with the hammer,
declaring a line of direction for all operators across board, be it GSM or CDMA
and even for obviously ailing telcos.
Real reasons NCC banned promos
Apex telecommunications regulator
in the land, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has adduced real
reasons why it placed ‘blanket’ ban on all promotions and lotteries by seven
telecom operators in the country.
The affected network operators
consist of Globacom Limited, MTN Nigeria, Intercellular Nigeria plc, Visafone
Communications Ltd, Etisalat Nigeria, Airtel Networks Limited and MultiLinks
Telecoms Limited.
Director, Public Affairs at NCC,
Mr. Tony Ojobo, explained in a three-point on why the ban on all promos has
become imminent, describing the exercise by mobile operators as “abuse of
market power.”
Protection of consumers, our interest …
According to him, the Commission
has to take this step in order to protect and promote the interest of consumers
against unfair practices, promote fair competition in the industry.
Additionally, he said, that NCC
needed to protect telecom consumers from operators’ willingness to misuse
market power, which are anti-competitive and unfair practices by operators.
Other reasons adduced by NCC for
its action include “In due regard to the afore-mentioned responsibilities
therefore and having observed that these promotions have increased the number
of minutes available to subscribers for use within a limited period of time
thereby creating congestion in the networks as subscribers try to use up the
available minutes within the stipulated time.
“That on-net calls were now being
offered by operators at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates
thereby introducing anti-competitive practices and behaviour, and;
“That termination of calls was
becoming increasingly difficult from one network to another and overall
consumer experience on the networks has become very poor thereby making it
extremely difficult for subscribers to make calls successfully.
The big ban!
“Consequent upon the
above-mentioned, the Commission therefore has banned all promotions by
Telecommunications Network Operators as well as lotteries being carried out on
such networks. This ban covers all
proposed and approved promotions and lotteries on which the Commission has
given approval further to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into
with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC).”
NCC further observed that it has,
in recent times been swamped with several complaints from consumers, industry
stakeholders against the various promotions offered by telecommunications
operators.
Reassuring consumers:
As said by him, the consistency of
NCC motivated it to carefully evaluate the complaints received especially
against the backdrop of sustaining the integrity of the networks, the general
interest of the consumers, the socio-economic impact of these promotions on
operators and other relevant stakeholders.
Just as NCC, he said, reassured all
telecommunications consumers of its resolve to ensure that the Quality of
Service (QoS) offered across all networks, as such that delivers value to the
consumers.
Consumers’ React:
But for consumers the ban is
different strokes for different people. While some hailed NCC for standing up
to save the situation, others lamented their inability to gain free credits to
talk to friends and families.
For the National Association of
Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), it was an applause time for the federal
government for putting an end to the sales promotions of telecom networks.
NATCOMS President, Chief Deolu
Ogunbanjo said the stoppage would free-up the network which would also stop the
current congestion on the networks.
“Telecom promotions have in one way
or the other reduced tariffs across the networks and that has encouraged
subscribers to enjoy talking freely,” Ogunbanjo noted. Adding that by putting a
stop to the promos, Ogunbanjo strongly believes would compel telecom operators
to upgrade their services.
“By this decision, telecom
operators will want to expedite action to improve on their networks,” Ogunbanjo
said that since that would be the only means to attract more subscribers.
ALTON reacts:
On the part of the operators who
reacted through the chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of
Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, pointed out that the issue of poor service
quality being across networks of telephone operators goes beyond promotions and
lotteries.
According to him, the major cause
of poor service quality across networks should be attributed to natural and
man-made disasters, rather than on promos and lotteries. These, he said, were
caused by flooding in some southern parts of the country, while the man-made
disasters were caused by spontaneous attacks on telecoms facilities in some
northern parts of the country last September. He insisted that attacks on
telecoms facilities last September and other incidences resulted in severe
service disruptions in the areas primarily affected and by extension other
parts of the country.
He said, the impact of the attacks
had since limited the ability of millions of Nigerian subscribers to access
telecommunications services, because the incidents affected over 250 telecoms
sites that lost connection. Adebayo added that the unprecedented flood in some
parts of the country destroyed Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) along its path,
led to significant service disruption in the affected areas, with consequential
impact on service availability in some other parts that were not affected by
the flood.
Billions of telcom equipment lost to flood:
Apart from disruption of services,
he said, ALTON members lost telecom equipment worth several billions of Naira
to the flood disaster across the country, with some 300 BTS sites damaged by
the flood.
For him, there is need to provide
relevant protection to telecoms facilities in the national interest, stressing
that the infrastructure built and owned by the telecommunications industry is
the springboard to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) revolution
in Nigeria, and thus deserve protection, because of their importance to
socio-economic advancement of the Nigerian nation.
Way Forward:
The federal government could
actually do something by looking at the entire quality of service issues
differently, especially looking at the investment made by these operators and
come up with some incentives, given the fact that recent flood disaster and
attacks on over 300 Base Stations is not a chicken-change affair to get these
base stations on again.
The earlier we release that these
operators made investment, which desire sustainability efforts and return on
investment, the better for us all.
Remmy Nweke, additional report Yinka Awosanya
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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