- They exploit us everyday – Subscribers
- Environment not conducive for uninterrupted services – Stakeholders
In spite of the riot acts read by the Ministry of Communication to all telecommunication operators in the country against illegal deductions from unsolicited services, findings by The Point have revealed that over 80 million lines were ‘abandoned’ and rendered ‘inactive’ by subscribers between November 2016 and January 2017, owing to unresolved complaints and other infractions by the Telcos.
Though the said lines are still used to receive calls, data obtained from sources at the Nigerian Communications Commission and the telcos revealed that the affected subscribers had failed to perform any sort of recharge, either for voice calls or data, over the three-month review period.
A study of subscribers’ statistics of mobile network operators obtained from the NCC showed that the quality of services rendered by the operators and the rate of infraction made on subscribers’ accounts within the period increased progressively and significantly.
For instance, out of the 231 million connected lines recorded in November 2016, only about 155 million of the lines were active as at the end of January 2017, meaning that about 80 million lines had gone ‘inactive’.
“Over 50 per cent of the affected lines were MTN lines, followed by Airtel and Glo,” a top source in NCC told The Point.
Aside from the aforementioned data, a source in the System Control unit of one of the telcos, MTN, disclosed that about 40 million lines were observed ‘inactive’ by his department.
According to him, out of the 40 million lines, over three million subscribers called MTN’s customer care agents to complain about unsolicited charges and messages.
“Most of them complained that they had followed the instructions sent to them to unsubscribe from the services but kept receiving deduction alerts. This has been on for some months now and we have solved some of the cases while others cannot be solved till we carry out some repairs.
The complaints forced about two million subscribers (in Lagos alone) to stop recharging their lines since November last year,” he told The Point.
A top source in the System Control unit of Airtel, while corroborating our correspondent’s findings, said that the telco had also observed the increasing rate at which some of its subscribers had failed to recharge their lines since December 2016 till date.
According to him, the development had made the management to introduce some promotional initiatives, which will soon be launched, to attract more subscribers.
He said, “We have submitted our report to the management that over three million lines (in some South West states) were not recharged since December 2016 and that had been a source of concern to the organisation.
“Most of the lines are only used to receive calls but the owners have not made calls from them. We will soon introduce some promotion offers to pull them back while our technical unit is working on improving quality service.”
THEY EXPLOIT US EVERYDAY – SUBSCRIBERS
As the current economic recession bites harder, telecoms subscribers have continued to cry out over what they describe as illegal deductions and exploitation by the country’s major telcos, under the guise of value added services.
They called on the regulators, NCC, to intervene. Recounting a recent experience, the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, disclosed that he was also a victim of the illegal deduction.
According to him, he bought two units of N500 recharge cards, loaded the first and got N500 credit alert. To his dismay, he loaded the second N500 and found that his main balance was N800. The minister lamented, “I had to call one of the directors of the company, who said I should give him 10 minutes before I was refunded the N200. I wondered that if the Minister of Communications could go through this experience, how much less other Nigerians, who are in millions.
“It is a very serious problem; we have been on it for quite some time. In fact, I had to invite all telecoms stakeholders and virtually read the riot act to them. Unfortunately, no progress has been made.
Only two days ago, at an MTN forum, I still expressed my dissatisfaction.” But other subscribers were not as lucky as the minister. Within a space of 30 days, a security personnel, Mr. Ebuka Nnamuka, lost over N2, 000, after his service provider, MTN, deducted the said amount from his account for some caller tunes, which he did not subscribe to.
Aside from that experience, he said, “I gave up on the network, when a certain number (+55515) called me and said it was about Catholic Catechism. After the voiced prompt had finished blabbing and asked me to press 1 to subscribe, I dropped the call.
“Then, a Short Message Service came through to my phone that N50 had been deducted from my account for subscribing to Catholic Catechism, I was shocked. I called the customer care and they told me that they would look into it, but nothing was done. It is unfair for any company to fleece Nigerians at such rate despite the economic recession biting hard on us.” The case of an Airtel subscriber, Mr. Dipo Onifade, is related to the caller tune charge extortion.
According to him, he called a friend from an Airtel line to another Airtel line and her ring tone was the one dedicated to the late South African President, Nelson Mandela. He was, however, shocked when he read the message that came in after the call.
“My surprise and disappointment was that Airtel charged me N150, claiming that I had subscribed to the tone. This was done, not at my own prompting. What other 419 act could be greater than this?
The funny thing is that the NCC is now laid back in performing some of its regulatory functions it was known for under the former Vice-Chairman, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, who was all out to protect Nigerians,” he said.
An Information Technology expert, Mr. Tony Okafor, was frustrated to abandon his Glo line for Etisalat, after losing about N1, 500. He disclosed that the sum of N150 was deducted from his account almost on a daily basis for over 10 days while he kept receiving an alert for subscription to several caller tunes.
He said, “Glo should devise another means of making profit and not exploiting Nigerians because we all know how difficult it is to recharge these days when employers owe three months salaries and the prices of almost all commodities have gone up.
“More than five times in a day, I sent ‘dereg’ to 7728 to deactivate my line from caller tunes but it failed and I was still charged for the service. Glo was compulsive on this unnecessary extortion and that is the reason I ported.”
OPERATORS NEED GOVT. SUPPORT – ALTON
However, stakeholders in the telecoms sector are not blaming the operators for the development, but the government for not giving adequate support to the service providers.
President, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, appealed to the federal and state governments to assist operators in ending the issue of poor services in the industry.
According to him, the operating environment is not conducive enough to maintain uninterrupted services and governments ought to synergise and come to the aid of stakeholders in solving the issues of multiple taxation and regulations, which are affecting the growth of the industry.
He said, “No business would thrive in an environment where resources that could have been used in network upgrading are diverted to the repairs of damaged telecommunications infrastructure in violence prone areas.
“The Key Performance Indicators parameters set by NCC do not reflect the performance and challenges of the industry. Poor services will still persist, as long as social problems, such as wilful damage to telecoms infrastructure and epileptic power supply, are still lingering in the country.
“Imposing huge fines on operators is bad for investors and network operators. It would not guarantee quality of service and even if the fines are finally paid; subscribers might bear the brunt.”
Over three million lines (in some South West states) were not recharged since December 2016 and that had been a source of concern to the organisation. Most of the lines are only used to receive calls but the owners have not made calls from them
INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING – NCC
Chairman, NCC, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, confirmed some of the allegations levelled against the service providers by their subscribers, but assured that the agency would ensure that Nigerians were not cheated by any service provider. “I am not comfortable with the services I get from my provider and we have decided to meet with the operators and stakeholders to raise necessary questions and proffer solution. It won’t be fair, if I don’t meet with them and join the public in criticising them. I am aware of what many Nigerians are going through,” he told The Point.
WE WIN SOME, LOSE SOME – OPERATORS
Meanwhile, it appears that most of the telcos are not bothered about the allegations levelled against them by their subscribers or about the possibility of the complaints leading to subscribers porting to other networks or becoming inactive.
For instance, Glo mobile argued that the firm did not make any illegal charges from customers’ accounts, while adding that subscribers could refuse to recharge their lines for several reasons besides poor network or extortion.
Manager, Corporate Affairs, Glo, Mr. Andrew Okeleke, who refused to comment on the allegations of poor network, extortions and its ‘inactive’ lines, told The Point that there are other reasons Nigerians may opt for Emefiele other lines.
“While some leave for other networks, others subscribed to our services because they know it is one of the best. It is surprising to know the number of people that buy our lines from time to time,” he said. But the Director, Corporate Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, told our correspondent to send the names and telephone numbers of the affected customers to him before he could respond to the allegations.
“I am unable to respond to such allegation except I have the details of the subscribers,” he told The Point. Efforts to get the response of MTN to the allegations levelled against it by subscribers were unsuccessful as the Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Funso Aina, failed to respond to telephone calls and text messages sent by our correspondent.
