NCC @ CATCO, Calls for Consumers Satisfaction

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has moved motion for the close examination of some consumer related issues peculiar to African countries as the foremost Conference of African Telecom Regulators on Consumer Affairs (CATCO 2013) got underway in Lagos Thursday.

Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman (NCC), said that further growth envisaged in the industry can only come upon successful deliberations on how to bring better regulation to bear on the activities geared towards consumer satisfaction.

Speaking through Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, executive commissioner, Stakeholders management at NCC, the EVC listed some of the key challenges facing telecom consumers in Africa and which need urgent attention to include, customer care and quality of service; physically challenged persons and service provisioning; promotion and lottery; disruption resolution and monitoring compliances.

Others include, enhancing consumer awareness through information dissemination and education; consumer data protection and consumer rights. He said NCC wished that such issues be carefully addressed to ensure consumers have value for their money will dealing with telecommunication operators.

“In doing so, I would like to propose that we closely examine some consumer issues peculiar not only to Nigeria, but also some other African countries,” Juwah said.

Earlier in an address of welcome, Engineer peter Igho, chairman of the Board of the NCC, said that it is quite noticeable, especially in Nigeria, that since the deregulation of the industry in Nigeria, the telecom landscape has so much changed that everyone has become a stakeholder, one way of the other.

Igho identified that CATCO has become relevant, because, in spite of the laudable achievements in the sector, there are challenges which telecom consumers face daily that require cross-fertilization of ideas to fashion out ways of tackling them.

“These challenges vary from country to country depending on the prevailing socio-economic development in the different countries in Africa…this conference offers tremendous opportunities for us to compare and exchange noted on our various experiences and to chart the course for the way forward,” Igho added.

The two day event attracted members of the National Assembly (Nigeria) and representatives of AIC of Angola, ARTP of Niger, UCC of Uganda, NTC of Sudan, ATRPT of Benin Republic, LTA of Liberia, NCA of Ghana, PORTRATZ of Zimbabwe, among other participants.