The Nigerian Communications Commission (NNC) has written
to all the network operators to explain why service quality has suddenly
crashed.
NCC
spokesman Tony Ojobo said yesterday that the commission had been inundated with
complaints over the sudden decline in service quality.
The
operators are expected to explain why the situation has gone so bad. The
regulator will deploy its engineers to test the facilities of the operators to
see if they meet the key performance indicators (KPIs) they signed.
“We
have observed that the service quality has gone down again. We have received
complaints from subscribers who said they have tried to do one thing or the
other on the networks, which was futile. Based on these complaints, NCC has
asked the operators to explain why the situation is so. We are not stopping at
that; we are also deploying our engineers to test their (operators’)
facilities,” Ojobo said.
The
NCC recently lifted its ban on all promos and lotteries that ride on the
network. Sector analysts say the decline in the quality of service may not be
unconnected with the lifting of the promos and lotteries.
National
Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) President, Deolu Ogunbanjo, said
the NCC ought not to have lifted the ban because doing so has unwittingly led
to congestion on the networks.
“Our
members have complained bitterly about the anguish they go through in the hands
of their service providers. They spend their hard-earned money to buy airtime
for which they hardly get the full value. We have written to the NCC. We feel
strongly that lifting the ban on promos and lotteries is responsible for the
congestion on the network,” he said in a telephone interview.
Ogunbanjo
said the body had petitioned the NCC, asking for compensation for the
subscribers and warning that should the regulator fail to do this by the end of
this month, the group would have no choice but to go to court. “We have
appealed to the NCC to compensate our members. If it fails to do so by the end
of this month, we will be forced to seek legal solution to the problem of our
members. We are going to write another letter to them (NCC),” he said.
Ojobo
said the NCC is also looking at the network to see if it is the decision to
lift the ban that has caused disruption in services. We lifted the ban on
promos and we have being looking at it to establish whether it has any impact
on the network. We are studying all that,” he said.
Many
subscribers have been complaining about poor service quality. It is either they
can’t get to load their airtime or make calls.
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Society