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Tag: Nigerian Communications Commission

  • NCC records 50,000 cases of vandalism in Nigeria in 5 years

    NCC records 50,000 cases of vandalism in Nigeria in 5 years

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has recorded fifty thousand cases vandalism of telecommunication infrastructure and facilities in parts of Nigeria in the last five years.

    The commission’s Vice Chairman, Umar Danbatta, said this at 2022 Youth, Civil Society and Stakeholders Summit, held in Abuja.

    He noted that these acts of destruction cause poor telecom services such as dropped calls and other poor services being witnessed by consumers in the country.

    Dambatta noted that the implications of these incidents are huge as they could be felt in the quality of telecommunications services in the country.

    He said the increased incidents had continued to affect the quality of experience of consumers and called for concerted efforts by members of the public and security agencies to stem the tide.

    Danbatta, who was represented by the Head, Corporate Communication Unit, Nnena Ukoha, said, “The negative impacts of incessant vandalism of telecom equipment, evidenced in fibre cuts, theft of telecom facilities like generators at sites, vandalism of base stations, among other vices, have become a major burden on the service providers, while telecom consumers have continued to suffer unwarranted disruptions of their hard-earned services.”

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    “The impact of vandalism of infrastructure is felt by all in the quality of services rendered, as it results in increasing drop calls, data and internet connectivity disruptions, aborted and undelivered short messaging services as well as countless failed calls.”

    Danbatta further said it was necessary to consider that the ability to connect and communicate was fundamental to human existence, improvement in business processes, government services, education, as well as social and family networking.

    He added that to enjoy seamless connections, every member of the community should get involved in protecting the critical infrastructure that made these services possible.

    “As a community, you are expected to report cases of vandalism of telecoms infrastructure to the nearest law enforcement agencies such as the police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and also share adequate information received from the NCC with your family, friends, and neighbour,” he said.

  • Telephone users hit 197.5 million, internet 143.7 million- Prof Danbatta reveals

    Telephone users hit 197.5 million, internet 143.7 million- Prof Danbatta reveals

    The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof Umar Danbatta, has said active telephone users hit 197.5 million, internet 143.7 million.

     

    He made this disclosure at the ongoing 33rd Enugu International Trade Fair in Enugu.

     

    Prof Danbatta also noted that subscribers to Internet are exceeding 143.7 million.

     

    Dantatta added that broadband penetration stood at 41.61per cent.

     

    The executive vice chairman, who was represented by the Enugu Zonal Controller, Ogbonnaya Ugama, said: “In this new environment, the competitiveness of Nigeria and ability to open up the business environment to more global opportunities, depends on the ability of local players to leverage new technologies in their businesses”.

     

    He restated the commission’s commitment to protecting and empowering consumers from unfair practices by service providers irrespective of their class.

  • Telecoms indebtedness: Operators beg for interconnect settlement scheme

    Telecoms indebtedness: Operators beg for interconnect settlement scheme

    Stakeholders in the telecommunications ecosystem have urged Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to establish Interconnect Settlement Scheme to address issues arising from interconnect indebtedness in the industry.

    They cited the example of Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reconcile inter- bank transactions.

    According to them, the establishment of this scheme has become expedient in view of high indebtedness between operators; most of the debts are on account of dispute.

    Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said that the situation in the industry is so bad that the indebtedness between parties is better not discussed.

    “In essence, people are owing. That said; it is just goes to speak why sometimes there would be cold war. Because, when those meeting are held it is better we are not aware. The situation of indebtedness between parties is very worrisome. It speaks volumes about the state of the health of the entire industry.

    “Some people challenge me: if you say you are not making money why do you spend so much on billboards. Now, you have seen that those billboards are actually bank money. The situation is so bad that we are not proud to talk about the debt.Ike Nnamani, chief executive officer, Medallion, attributed the situation to refusal of operators to make use of interconnect clearing houses as mandated by NCC.

    “When indebtedness among operators rose to an alarming level some years back, NCC licensed interconnect clearing houses to ensure transparency in the billing process and mandated every operator to rout at least 10 percent of their traffic through the clearing platform, but, today none of the operators are anywhere close to 10 percent.

    “Some are doing five percent while some are less than that, this means that more than 90 percent of traffic in the industry is exchanged directly among other which gave rise to high indebtedness as we witness today,” he said.

    He explained that exchanging traffic directly among operators does not guarantee transparent billing as well gives rise to anti competition practices as we see it today.

    It would be recalled that the NCC in 2012 licensed interconnect clearing houses to provide and operate Interconnect Exchange Services to the telecommunications Operators, by so doing address the issue of indebtedness in the sector after big operators where denying smaller operators interconnection to their network as a result of debts owe to them.

    The take-off of interconnect clearing house which provided the platform for sorting out of monies due to each operator and period of settlement helped to address that indebtedness.

     

  • 6 tricks financial fraudsters use to steal your money

    6 tricks financial fraudsters use to steal your money

    You could have been the victim of this terrifying crime or had calls from some fraudsters, or most probably know someone who has been.

    Usually, they will tell you they are your friend abroad and ask you to guess their names or even tell you they work with Dangote cement that there is this contract on offer they want you to grab.

    There are so many phone scams these days that you would think the Nigerian Communications Commission Do-Not-Disturb policy is mere child’s play.

    ImageFile: BVN fraudster SMS
    Scam SMS financial fraudsters send to victims

    It is like clockwork. You sit down to eat dinner and your phone starts ringing incessantly or some disturbing text messages start bumping in for you to call a certain number to re-activate your Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    Of course, they want your money. You might think, “how can anyone be tricked by these people?”

    Well, it turns out that they use scientifically proven techniques to convince you or your elderly loved ones, that they are who they claim to be. They will convince you that they are trying to be helpful. They will even tell you they know you from your place of worship.

    There are six techniques they use to convince you to give them your money. Do you know these six tricks?

    6 tricks phone scammers use

    We do not want you to be the next victim of a phone scam. Nigerians lose millions of nairas every year to phone scams.

    Here are six ways they convince you to pay up.

    1. They will call, tell you they are your friend abroad and ask you to guess their names or tell you “you need to re-activate your BVN”
    2. Any name you mention, they will go with it, and they will make you start even talking about the person you mentioned (that they do not know) the more. Then they will mention your names and share information about you to gain your trust
    3. They will welcome your skepticism, saying they understand your concerns
    4. Scammers will lie about who they are, and where they work, whether they say they are with Zenith, GTB, or Fidelity banks or they will tell you they are Dangote staffs, or some other reputable companies
    5. They will take their time to explain who they are and why they are calling
    6. They will ramp up their pressure and threats by changing the tone of their voice, especially when the narration is not going as they have planned it

    It is really important that you never share personal information, such as your address, with anyone over the phone. Of course, never give your credit card information or bank account numbers to anyone, unless you contact them first.

    How to outwit phone scammers

    1. Stay cool, be in control of the phone call
    2. Do not let them rush you. At least waste the scammer’s airtime — a call offering a 10 million naira contract should last at least 5 or more hours (i.e. if you have the time anyways)
    3. But, most importantly, pay attention to your intuition

    The most effective tool you have with phone scams is your power to hang up. If someone starts asking you for personal information or for money, immediately hang up.

    If you are worried that the person calling could have been from your bank, go to your bank; or from a reputable company, find the genuine website of the company and look for contact information. Then, you call them.

     

    Read: Best way to block spam calls on your Smartphone

     

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