Telecommunications subscribers in Nigeria lose an average of N730 billion annually to poor quality of service (QoS) emanating from inadequate network capacity provided by telecom operators, The Leadership has reported .
Also infrastructure vandalism , dropped calls as well as charges to undelivered short message service (SMS) deducted from subscribers account all serve to exacerbate the problems of telecom consumers.
The Leadership said that these were among issues raised at a one-day telecommunications executives and the regulator’s forum organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Lagos recently.
A draft communiqué noted that quality of mobile devices used by subscribers could also tamper with quality of service, so there was the need to fight against fake phones in Nigeria.
ATCON charged NCC to continue to interface with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to tackle the issue of multiple taxation, right of way and vandalism of infrastructure, hoping that it would help resolve the issue of poor quality of service.
On mobile number portability, the panelists, discussants and participants agreed that the scheme seems not to be very effective in Nigeria because most subscribers already have two, three or more mobile phones.
According to the draft communiqué, multi-sim phone also hinders the success of porting because it encourages subscribers to use more than one sim-card and this defeats the porting phenomenon. It noted that porting has made the operators to be more customer-friendly.
ATCON said operators must agree amongst themselves not to port post-paid subscribers owing to their source networks.
On open access, spectrum, right of way and stimulating demand, discussants agreed that broadband was top of the agenda of world economies and Nigeria could not be left out.
“The fear that government’s subsidy to newly licenced infrastructure providers could negate liberalisation and competition thereby discouraging private investors was dispelled by the regulator’s assurance that government has no equity in the infrastructure service providers, but is simply providing incentives to fast-track the deployment of services in Nigeria,” it read.