The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have teamed up to develop a framework that will address the issue of failed airtime recharge and data subscription purchase on electronic platforms such as bank apps and USSD.
This framework was borne out of rising complaints over the loss of money by consumers who experience failed transactions but get debited without a refund. In some cases, the transaction is tagged as ‘pending’, leaving the customer in limbo for weeks without a resolution.
Speaking during the 94th Telecom Consumer Parliament of the NCC held in Lagos, the Director of Consumer Protection and Inclusion at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Dr. Aisha Olatinwo, said the initiative being led by the NCC will ensure that the customers get their value at all times.
“It’s very important to understand that if a transaction failed, then the transaction has not started. So, part of what we’re working together with NCC is to ensure that from start to finish, there is a response code, so we know where the failure is, we know which participant is failing, and we assign appropriate sanctions,” she said.
“The consumer must get value for what they paid for. And I think at the end of the day, if we check that behavior and put in place corrective measures, you will see minimal failure points,” Olatinwo added.
Failed recharges: The context
Providing context into the challenge, an Assistant Director at the NCC, Mr. Quasim Odumbaku, cited a Mastercard report, which estimated that about 91% of telecom consumers in Nigeria use electronic channels to recharge.
- According to him, other reports also estimated that between 1% and 3.6% of such transactions fail, which is a serious concern to the regulator in a market where 98% of the customers are prepaid customers.
- He noted that the issue of failed recharges is number two on the list of consumer-impacting issues in the industry.
“When you look at the total market, that’s huge. 1% is not much in terms of the percentage, but it is huge in terms of actual numbers. It’s an issue that cuts across different platforms,” he said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Credit Switch, Mr. Tayo Adigun, said the problem arose because the industry was ahead of itself, but expressed optimism that with the new framework developed by the NCC and CBN mandating Service Level Agreement (SLA) for all players, the issue will be addressed.
“The industry is ahead of itself in the sense that we had started the business before we actually had a service level agreement.
We have people who don’t have customer service or the technology or the investments you need to put in place before offering the service. But I’m very sure that once this SLA is in place, where everybody knows what the standard is, everyone will sit up,” he said.
Addressing telecom consumer issues
In his keynote at the event, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said the Telecom Consumer Parliament serves as a vital platform through which the NCC, as the regulator of the telecommunications industry, brings together key stakeholders—regulators, operators, and most importantly, consumers—to engage in constructive dialogue on the pressing issues shaping the sector.
According to him, the intention was not only to use the platform to highlight the challenges identified in the industry but also to share the concrete steps the regulator is taking to address them, especially as they relate to our consumers.
- He added that the consumers remain at the heart of the regulator’s mandate, and that was why the theme of the Parliament, “Addressing Network Quality for Improved Consumer Experience,” was both timely and significant.
- This, he said, aligns closely with one of the key focus areas of the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan—that is, enhancing the Quality of Experience (QoE) for consumers across Nigeria.
- The EVC noted that while the Commission’s efforts in the past were largely centred on ensuring that operators complied with defined Quality of Service (QoS) key performance indicators, it has since expanded this scope to encompass all consumer touchpoints across the telecom service consumption chain.