A fresh lease appears underway for consumers with a renewed impetus by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, which has directed Mobile Network Operators, MNOs, to provide compensation to subscribers whose network quality of service experience is below specified targets within specific locations. This could indeed be a new dawn for a sector reeling in abuses by the operators.
Since, the introduction of GSM with its other complementary digital services in the country, one major concern has been poor service delivery.
Nigerians have been somehow relatively contented with the same given a disastrous past where the sector was tottering to be relevant. It was analogous to arriving from a worst case scenario when NITEL was the unreliable and decadent monopoly that ruled the sector prior to 2001. There were only a handful of private sector operators who also relied on NITEL’s epileptic infrastructure with predicable consequences occasioned by endless lack of connectivity amid exorbitant charges when calls ever go through. Today, the situation has eased out and NITEL and its partners have become vestiges of an inglorious past.
It was therefore a sort of relief having what was a far cry from a gloomy era when the MNOs came on board. With great determination to rewrite the old chapters of a bleak telecoms industry, the government introduced the mobile system which had long been a feature in other parts of the globe. That revolution is worthy of applause by Nigerians whose lives have seen tremendous transformations.
However, it would be incongruous and a disservice to subscribers if these MNOs fail to respond to the challenges they confront with their services. Advocates and consumer protection groups in the sector have been bothered about the various lacunas that have placed consumers at the receiving end of poor quality service for which the operators have wittingly failed to address.
In fairness, to the regulator, it had made pronouncements in the past on service delivery where MNO’s where made to make recompense for their inadequacies by virtue of reprimands and fines but nothing was deliberately done to compensate the long-suffering consumers whose resilience has been taken for granted.
With the new initiative, it is therefore salutary that subscribers have cause to heave a sigh of relief as they are not to bear the full burden of service disruptions where operators fail to meet prescribed standards of service delivery.
Given the new regime as prescribed by the NCC, erring operators will compensate affected users directly for breaches of Quality of Service, QoS, Key Performance Indicators, KPIs.
Furthermore, NMOs would pay these compensations for instances of poor quality of service recorded within specified time frames.
We learnt the compensation will be provided in the form of airtime credits, calculated based on subscribers’ average spending patterns and their presence within Local Government Areas where service failures occur.
It is heartwarming that the Commission may have yielded to long-term agitations from Telecom-consumer-based advocates who have been unequivocally calling for reparation for consumers where noticeable breaches are noticed.
The NCC itself appears to have been jolted from a long slumber on the matter as it noted that it was within its broader regulatory philosophy that places the consumer at the centre of Nigeria’s telecommunications ecosystem. It is imperative to note that telecommunications services today underpin economic activity, social interaction, and access to digital opportunities. It is a good reason why consumers should be given top priority.
We acquiesce to the position that when service quality is poor, the consequences affect productivity, commercial activities, and even public confidence in the communications system.
It is within the realm of what is unarguably normal that regulatory fines have traditionally served as a deterrent against poor service delivery, but the Commission is now adopting a more consumer-focused approach that strengthens accountability within the industry. This is a commendable direction.
NCC must go beyond the current measures by enhancing quality monitoring and enforce performance standards. It is only then that there would be real transformation consumers would applaud.
We appreciate NCC’s bold commitment to deploy regulatory tools that promote fairness, transparency, and accountability across the sector, ensuring that every subscriber receives the quality of service they deserve while sustaining a telecommunications industry capable of powering Nigeria’s digital age comparable with other countries.
It must be emphasised that more investment must be encouraged in tandem with modern global technologies to meet up with the enormous challenges that can absorb the nation’s ever ballooning population.