The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in a renewed offensive against mobile handset thefts in the country said that it would completely bar any stolen phones from being used in any of the phone networks from December this year.
Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman and chief executive of NCC, said the regulatory body has concluded plans to force down the current tariffs being charged by phone operators for Short Messaging Services, SMS, in the country to assist more people to communicate more easily and more cheaply.
Ndukwe who spoke at the 47th Consumer Parliament which held at Awka, Anambra State, also said that the issue of phone thefts in the country has been of major concern to the regulator, and the anti-theft system was developed with collaboration of the mobile phone operators, and that a company has been licensed to manage the system.
He said the system will require that all the mobile operators, including GSM and CDMA networks, to link their data to the system such that once theft of any phone handset is reported, it will never work in any other network in Nigeria.
On the plans to reduce the cost of SMS which is still up to N15 in some networks, Ndukwe said the commission is looking into the matter and expects the operators to reduce the tariffs soon or the commission will take its action.
"SMS is one of the cheapest things to offer in the network in terms of services, and many young people use this service. It is cheaper and easier and when more people use it, it will also free the networks of congestion. If the operators do not react, we will react. We will probably put a sealing on this service", he said.
The NCC boss also observed that checks by the Commission in Awka and the surrounding areas showed that all the operators have failed terms of customer care for its subscribers. He admonished the operators to leave up to their responsibilities to ensure customer satisfaction with the provision of customer care facilities for quick resolution of complaints.
Ndukwe, explained to the phone consumers that the essence of the parliament is to feel their pulse and to assess the facilities which the operators have put together to offer quality services to the people.
He told them that some of the quality of service challenges in the system are traceable to the operators while some are beyond the operators but that the commission recently imposed some compensation on the operators to mitigate these challenges.
"This is the first time that any group of customers has been so compensated in any part of Africa, and we have not seen in it any part of the world. So, we are proud to achieve that for the consumers in this country", he said.
On the promise to provide broadband services in the country, Ndukwe said that some operators are already offering 3G broadband Internet capabilities while some others a providing WIMAX services.
He said many Nigerian cities will experience broadband services by mid next year through the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative, SABI, in which the NCC is providing subsidy to some of the operators to implement.
Following complaints about vandalization of operators’ equipment, the NCC boss said the commission is more concerned about one company damaging cables of other companies and that the regulator is coming up with some rules about these. However, he said the regulator is not the police to be able to arrest those who vandalize equipments.
"If there is wilful damage to your equipment, you have the option of suing the company involved to get mitigation for damages which NCC cannot offer", he said. He also noted that vandalization of telecom equipment is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but that the NCC is planning to convene a meeting of all the operators in the country to find the lasting solution to the issue.
