Operators Rues Losses Due to Ban on Promos

Telecommunications operators in the country have lost billions of Naira because of the recent ban on promos and lotteries by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.

Although, the telcos are reluctant to disclose figures, investigations showed that the operators have invested money in acquisition of promo prizes, advert creatives, acquisition of branded buses for such promos among others.

Globacom for instance, in its  ‘txt 4 million’ had two Toyota Yaris cars and five motorbikes up for grabs.

The operator in the ‘Made4Life’ promo offered a fleet of 52-seater luxury buses, mini buses, luxury taxies and cash prizes.

The acquisition of these prizes is put at several millions.

However, MTN was lucky as the winner of its Ultimate wonder of N64million aero plane has already emerged before the ban.

Etisalat and Airtel have also invested millions in media creative as well as other public awareness programme aimed at marketing their various promos before the ban.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek recalled that the NCC had few weeks ago issued a directive to all telecom operators, Etisalat, MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Visafone and Multi-Links to discontinue with all promos and lotteries on their

Tony Ojobo, director of public affairs in a statement banning the promos, stated that the commission had verified that the various promotional sales campaigns by the telecom operators had led to network congestions, and contributed greatly to the poor QoS experienced in the country.

He noted that it the Commission has carefully evaluated 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.

Consequently, the Commission noted that the ban covers all proposed and approved promotions and lotteries on which it has given approval further to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC).

“The Commission is also mindful of its statutory responsibilities such as; to protect and promote the interest of consumers against unfair practices, promote fair competition in the industry by protecting Operators from misuse of market power and anti-competitive/unfair practices by other operators,” noted Ojobo.

Ojobo stated that the Commission had taken into cognizance, the implications of its actions, but said it took the decision in the interest of consumers and the haven 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 call was now being offered by Operators at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates thereby introducing anti-competitive practices and behaviour. Termination of calls were 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.”