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Tag: NCC

  • Internet users in Nigeria drop to 93.2m in October – NCC

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday said the number of internet users in Nigeria’s telecommunications networks had reduced to 93.2 million by October.

    The telecommunications industry umpire made the disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for October in Lagos.

    The data revealed that internet users on both Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks had decreased by 391,679 in October.

    It showed that of the 93.2 million internet users in October, 93.1 million were on GSM networks, while 38,309 users were on CDMA networks.

    Also, the GSM service providers lost 378,015 internet customers after recording 93.1 million users in October, as against 93.5 million it recorded in September.

    The CDMA operators lost 13,664 internet users, after recording 38,309 in October, against 51,973 recorded in September.

    The data revealed that MTN had 32.4 million subscribers browsing the internet on its network.

    It explained that MTN recorded a decrease of 306,480 internet subscribers in October, after recording 32.7 million in September.

    According to the data, Globacom has 27.2 million customers surfing the net on its network in October, giving an increase of 297,623 users, from the 26.9 million that surfed the internet on the network in September.

    Airtel had 18.8 million internet users in October, the same it recorded in September.

    The data also showed that Etisalat had 14.7 million customers who browsed the internet in October, revealing a decrease of 369,158 users against the 15.1 million users recorded in September.

    The NCC data revealed that the CDMA operators, Multi-Links and Visafone, had a joint total of 38,309 internet users on their networks in October.

    It showed that the only two surviving CDMA networks in the country recorded a decrease of 13,664 internet subscribers in the month under review from the 51,973 users they recorded in September.

    According to the data, Visafone has a decrease of 13,664 customers surfing the internet in October, as it has 38,305, compared to the 51,969 users in the month of September.

    Multi-Links had just four internet users in October, same as the users recorded in September.

    The decrease in the use of the internet in October showed that more Nigerians needed to embrace data, as the next revolution.

  • NCC anticipates increased service demands on telecoms operators

    In anticipation of increased service demands, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called on telecommunications operators to strengthen Quality of Service (QoS) on their various networks in the festive season.

    The Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta made the call at the grand finale of the NCC-sponsored Telecoms Cup Tennis Tournament in Lagos on Sunday.

    Represented by Mr Jerry Ugwu, a deputy-director in the NCC, Danbatta said that the Yuletide period of the year always witnessed increased traffic on telecommunications networks.

    He charged operators to be prepared to fully cater for subscribers’ reliance on voice, data and Short Messaging Service (SMS) during the period.

    ”NCC’s message on a good Quality of Service (QoS) is always consistent to serve the interest of all operators, subscribers and stakeholders, despite that the operators are believed to know the dynamics of the market and understand the demand flow as well.

    ”This is a period that traffic is higher and so, operators must be prepared to meet the demands because it brings business to them.

    “They too will not be happy if bad quality of service should lead subscribers to deserting their (operators’) networks,” Danbatta said.

    He called the attention of operators to migration of traffic from major cities to the hinterland, which might lead to the emergence of the need to adjust service distribution within the period.

    Meanwhile, the final game of the tournament between Nishant Abi and Walter Eze closed at 6-1; 6-1 in favour of Nishant.

    Nishant and his partner also won the Men’s Double of the tournament.

    The Vice Chairman, Tennis Section of Ikoyi Club, Mr Collins Onuegbu, commended the NCC for putting efforts into sustaining the sponsorship of tennis competitions.

    Onuegbu said that the sponsorship would rejuvenate the game in Nigeria, as the sport was almost dying because of lack of sponsorship.

    ”A long time ago, tennis used to be a very popular sport in Nigeria, but not again. Today, it is football that attracts a lot of sponsorship because it is very popular.

    ”So, the fact that NCC is putting in a lot of energy around sponsoring tennis should be appreciated. This is good for the younger ones coming up and also, most of us that are still playing,” he said.

  • SIM swap: NCC plans new guidelines amidst process lapses

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, is set to come up with a new guideline that will harmonize the processes and procedures for Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) swaps across all networks.

    The decision followed various complaints by subscribers over unauthorized SIM swaps by service providers and fraudulent activities emanating from such exercise, all of which will stop if the new guideline comes into effect.

    Head, Legal and Regulatory Services, NCC, Mrs Yetunde Akinloye, who stated this at the Telecoms Consumer Parliament in Abuja, said the Commission had received so many complaints from the public on unauthorized SIM swap, adding that in some cases, some nefarious activities were carried out with such SIM Cards.

    She said that a taskforce has been set up between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the lender of last resort, and NCC to look into some of the issues with a view to finding solutions to them.

    She said: “CBN is the banking regulator that is why we have entered into this taskforce with them so that between us and the CBN, we can find solution to this matter”.

    “There was a situation that was brought to our attention where a subscriber was having issues with his number and thought that it was a network issue, but by the time he discovered what was happening, about N4 million had been taken out of his bank account.

    “The person is resident here in Abuja, while the money was taken away from Kano, and he has never been to Kano, so there is no way this would have been done without the connivance of an insider.

    “We discovered that right now, the procedure for SIM swap differs from one operator to the other and we want to standardize how SIM Swap is done,” she added.

    Akinloye also said there were pending Bills at the National Assembly aimed at addressing the problem of unsolicited massages, which subscribers are constantly subjected to.

    A representative of the Consumer Protection Council, (CPC), Shamm Kolo, had earlier identified some of the major complaints brought to Council by consumers to include unauthorized SIM Swap, unsolicited caller tunes and music religious massages, lotto, and promos which are being forced on consumers, which they find difficult to opt out of.

    Also at the event, telecoms subscribers complained that in spite of the introduction of the 2442 “Do Not Disturb (DND) code by the NCC, they are still being inundated with unsolicited massages by the service providers.

    One of the subscribers, Miss Eyitayo Oladokun, complained that even after activating the DND code, she still receives a lot of unsolicited massages from her service provider.

    Responding to some of the complaints, a representative of MTN, Adamu Abubakar, explained that some subscribers find it difficult to opt out either because they are using handsets that are not meant for the Nigerian market or as a result of wrong code activation.

  • Use 2442 short code to stop unsolicited text messages – NCC advises GSM users

    The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has urged telecommunication subscribers in the country to take advantage of the 2442 short code designed by the commission to stop unsolicited messages.

    Danbatta gave the call at the 79th edition of the Telecommunication Consumer Parliament held in Abuja and was contained in a statement he personally signed.

    The NCC Chairman explained that the 2442 short code was designed for consumers to regulate unsolicited text messages they receive.

    According to Danbatta, the commission in a bid to ensure telecom users to take advantage of the short code, has put in “place programmes to inform, educate and protect” consumers.

    The statement reads, “As a telecom Industry Regulator, the issue of Consumer protection is very paramount to us. This is because we believe the consumer is the king in the palace of market. In order to uphold this principle, the Commission puts in place various programs to inform, educate and protect the consumer of telecom services.

    “One of such programme is Telecom Consumer Parliament. The forum provides a unique opportunity for tripartite meeting of the Regulator, Operator and Consumers (ROC) to discuss pressing issues affecting the industry in general and consumers specifically. The forum also affords a platform for the consumers to express their views freely and state their expectation from the regulator and the Service Providers.

    “As we are aware, following the barrage of complaints on the menace of unsolicited messages, the commission swayed into action by mandating the activation of the 2442 short code to enable consumers control the types of messages they receive. I am glad that it has come into effect and I urge all consumers to take advantage of this new regime, by sending “stop to 2442” to avoid unsolicited messages.

    “The Commission is quite aware that for this initiative to succeed there should be massive public awareness campaign by both the regulator and operating companies.

    ”It is in this regard that the theme of today’s parliament becomes relevant. The objective is to place the issue on the front burner of our discourse until unsolicited messages become a thing of the past.”

  • Failed Data Hike: NCC begins wide consultation with stakeholders

    The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) on Wednesday said it has commenced wide consultations with stakeholders on a sustainable data floor price.

    This was made known by Tony Ojobo, the Director of Public Affairs of the commission in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the recent increase and suspension of the price of data.

    Recall that some telecom service providers recently sent messages to their subscribers that NCC was planning to increase data tariff.

    The announcement elicited wide criticisms from subscribers including the National Assembly, which prompted the commission to issue a statement on the suspension of the data price increase.

    “In order for us not to have failure and to have good quality data services, there is need for intervention by the regulator.

    “And what we have said is that it has been suspended for now, the commission is going to undertake a study and consult widely with all stakeholders before a final decision is taken,’’ he said.

    Ojobo said that in terms of pricing, Nigeria was not doing badly, adding that “NCC is responsible and responsive to it duty’’.

    He said that the commission was also looking at the benchmark across other African countries on how they regulate theirs before fixing the floor price.

    Ojobo said that the world had gone internet, therefore there was need for huge investment to ensure that the country enjoyed these services.

    “The operator pays for the bandwidth it gets and it are going below the cost price, then something is wrong.

    “And it will bring a distraction and contribute to market failure, so it is important we understand all these,’’ he said.

    Mrs Josephine Amuwa, the Director of Policy and Economic Analysis said that the commission carried out a cost study to determine the situation on ground and what could be done as regards data floor.

    “We carried out a benchmarking in African countries to see what was happening and the cost of data services in these countries and in all these consultations, we involved operators.

    “We wrote to them to start a consultation for price floor and all those to be involved in it and they wrote to us for the need for a price floor.

    “And we had consultation with 28 operators on Oct. 19, later it was left for NCC to take the decision and we decided that 90 kobo was an appropriate interim figure.

    “Somebody who is paying N5 will pay 90k and somebody who is paying 45k will pay 90k, it then balance out and that is why we introduce a price floor.

    “We have gone back to our cost study to see how fast we can fast track it, we cannot do without it because we don’t want the industry to fail,’’ she said.

  • Data price hike: Senate meets NCC, Telcos

    Data price hike: Senate meets NCC, Telcos

    Following the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) u-turn on data tariff increase, the Nigerian Senate committee on communications on Tuesday met with the telecommunications regulatory body and major telecommunications company in Nigeria to determine the correct pricing for data.

    It could be recalled that telecom operators announced intention signalled by the NCC to increase data price effective December 1, which was halted by the Nigerian Senate with a mandate on the Senate committee on communications to investigate the proposed hike in data tariff.

    While the NCC had since made the u-turn without implementing the increase, and the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has said the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria never authorized NCC to hike data tariffs, indications from the investigative meeting held yesterday, both the NCC and the telecoms operators are bent-on on hiking data price.

    Speaking at the meeting, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola, relayed the Senate’s concern over the proposed data price increase. Senator Adeola said that Nigerians were united in their opposition that the proposed increase in the price of data should be stopped. According to the senator, the hike in data price was ill-advised especially with the biting economic situation in the country.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Mr Umar Danbatta, while addressing the committee, said that the intervention of the NCC was not designed to rip-off the consumers. Danbatta explained that if cheap prices were introduced, they may end up undermining the telecom service operators.

    According to Danbatta, the need to avert crisis in the telecom industry informed the introduction of the interim price floor for data services – ₦0.90k per megabyte.

    “We wanted to protect the Nigerian consumer from unhealthy price war in what may lead to a monopoly that may lead us to the days of NITEL,” Danbatta said.

    “We did not increase any price but merely provided a regulatory standard to protect small telecom operators,” he added.

    In the defence of the NCC, Danbatta said that there were some telecom operators that lacked the capacity to compete with the big operators in the field. Therefore, the ₦0.90k price floor for data was a benchmark below which no operator could sell.

    The Communications Minister at the meeting said that in reality the telecom service providers were operating under unfriendly business environment including lack of electricity and increasing security challenges.

    “This is one area that I believe that we all must face the reality. The government in its wisdom, and I am happy the National Assembly, promulgated the National Communications Act which required that there be established an NCC.

    “If you look at the NCC law, it is positioned to reflect experiences, expertise and all of that and I want to believe that there must not be too many interventions in the activities of the NCC,” Shittu said.

    Adebayo Shittu while reflecting on the data hike pointed out that the NCC was deficient at properly communicating the new price floor to the public. He, however, appealed to the Senate to assist in the area of holding the balance between the interest of the operators and the interest of the Nigerian masses.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Etisalat, Matthew Willsher, while speaking to the Senate Committee said that the absence of a price floor is a major problem, adding that the absence of a data price floor led to the dramatic decline in data pricing.

    Ferdinand Moolman, CEO of MTN, who was also in attendance spoke about the impact of inflation on the sector. Mr Moolman asked that the NCC does a proper cost and price analysis which will factor in the current inflation in the country.

    Moolman said, “All of us aware that inflation is going up to 17 to 18 per cent, we have experienced price increase in all other sectors yet we have seen price drop in the telecoms sector in the last two or three years and you have heard this said by a number of speakers”.

    Addressing the committee’s concerns on the data price hike, Danbatta explained that the NCC does not set prices but provide regulatory safe guides.

    Danbatta made it clear to the Senate Committee that the NCC would conduct an extensive scientific research to determine the correct pricing for data that would be acceptable to Nigerians.

  • Failed Data Hike: Expect poor data services, telecoms operators warn consumers

    Following a failed attempt by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC and the various service providers in the country, to hike the prices of data, the Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) on Thursday informed consumers to expect poor data services.

    The Chairman of ALTON, Mr Gbenga Adebayo said in a statement in Lagos, that there was the need for an upward review, so as to offer better data services to subscribers.

    Adebayo said that the operators fully understood the public sentiments that greeted the announcement of a minimum data tariff being introduced by the NCC.

    He said that the NCC intervened to set the data tariff floor in view of its statutory responsibility to promote healthy competition, by periodically reviewing voice and data tariffs in the industry.

    According to him, the commission’s intervention is to ensure the sustainability of the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

    He also said that the regulatory body had extensive consultation with the industry prior to the finalisation of the data tariff floor.

    “Further, the commission has since Wednesday suspended the implementation of its determination on the data tariff floor.

    “ALTON notes that it is within the statutory remit of the NCC for it to make decisive interventions to address the data price concerns which had led to data prices falling to unreasonably low levels.

    “This is with the effect that telecommunications operators were unable to recover the cost of providing data services and reinvest in capacity expansion to accommodate the increased usage arising from lower tariffs.

    “The situation has been compounded by the recent economic challenges characterised by the steep depreciation of the naira.

    “It is characterised by the need to resort to the parallel market and foreign exchange scarcity, which have considerably increased the capital and operational cost of providing telecommunications services.

    “This has made current data tariffs unsustainable.

    “This situation, if left unaddressed, could result in a sustained deterioration in the quality of data services across all networks and the attendant poor quality of experience for users.

    “In this regard, our members await the conclusion of NCC’s market study, when the commission will be in a position to determine its requisite intervention,’’ Adebayo said.

    He said that NCC introduced the minimum price for data services to help ensure cost recovery and drive the continued investment in the telecommunications sector.

    The ALTON chairman said that it was necessary for the provision of world-class data services for the overall benefit of the Nigerian subscriber and the Nigerian economy.

    “It is our belief that interventions such as these are in keeping with the NCC’s tradition of implementing customer-centric regulatory initiatives such as the Do-Not-Disturb Service and the Mobile Number Portability Scheme.

    “These were introduced to enhance customer satisfaction with telecommunications services.

    “ALTON also notes that price changes for data services across all networks following any intervention by the NCC are not expected to have a detrimental effect on broadband penetration contrary to some sentiments being expressed in the media.

    “ALTON wishes to emphasise that while it is imperative that telecommunications operators continue to explore opportunities to provide their subscribers with more value for their money, it is important that prices be set at realistic levels.

    “This will ensure that subscribers are not only able to afford services, but that operators are also in a position to provide first-rate Quality of Service to their subscribers,’’ he said.

    Recall that the NCC on Wednesday suspended any further action on the directive to introduce price floor for data segment of the telecommunications sector beginning from December 1, 2016.

    The Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo said in a statement that the decision to suspend the directive was taken after due consultation with industry stakeholders and the general complaints by consumers across the country.

    Ojobo said that the commission had weighed all of these and consequently asked all operators to maintain the status quo until the conclusion of study to determine retail prices for broadband and data services in Nigeria.

    He said that the regulatory body wrote to the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on November 1, on the determination of an interim price floor for data services after the stakeholder’s consultative meeting of October 19.

     

  • FG never authorized NCC to hike data tariffs – Shittu

    FG never authorized NCC to hike data tariffs – Shittu

    The Federal Government on Wednesday through the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu dismissed claims that it directed telecommunications operators to increase the price of data subscriptions by December 1.

    Reports had it that effective from Thursday Nigerians will begin to pay more for data services.

    Reacting to the reports, the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, while featuring on a monitored programme on radio, said he was never a party to the planned tariff hike for data.

    Insisting that government did not authorize telecoms operators to raise the tariffs, Shittu assured Nigerians that the government would look into the matter and that it would continue to protect their interest.

    In his words: “There are reasons for what they have done. The reasons, I’m sure, will not be political; the reason will be more of logistics and all of that and as you have requested me to do I will do that.

    “But I want to say that I was not privy to it, I was not party to it. Government never gave any such instruction and the government, as the representative of the people, have never done that; that the voice of Nigerians must not be muscled.

    “This government came into the democratic process and it has a duty to continue to protect the interest of Nigerians and I can assure you, we will do that and we will do the needful in protecting the rights and privileges of Nigerians.”

    On the issue of unsolicited text messages by telecom operators, Shittu said “About six months ago I had cause to invite all the telecom operators and virtually read the riot act to them. If that has not been done I can assure you it will be done. We are concerned about the interest of Nigerians.

    “We are concerned that Nigerians should not be taken for ride. As the minister of communications, I’m also a victim just like every other Nigerian. I also suffer the same fate as telecom operators, so let me assure you that we will redouble our efforts to curtail the excesses of the telecom operators.”

    Recall that barely three hours after the Senate passed a resolution asking telecommunications service providers to stop the planned increase in data tariffs, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, announced the immediate suspension of the proposed new tariff.