Executive Vice Chairman, EVC, of the commission, Prof. Umaru Danbatta, stated this on Tuesday while fielding questions from newsmen at the sidelines of a meeting with members of the academia on the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, study group in Abuja.
Expressing displeasure with the scourge of unsolicited text messages, he averred that the NCC would take drastic action against mobile network operators, MNOs, with a fine of N5 million per breach of the DND code option for subscribers.
The EVC lamented that the consumers continue to be at the receiving end from unsolicited text messages sent by mobile network operators, MNOs, assuring that this will be drastically addressed by the regulatory body.
“The commission will ensure the implementation of these two items by providing a toll free number so that NCC will receive complaints from the consumers on the quality of service, though the level of resolutions of issues associated with quality of service has been reasonable.
“NCC recently introduced a regulation of the DND directive which compels MNOs not to send unsolicited text messages to subscribers or consumers. We are at the stage of imposing this direction, meaning that any breach of this direction will attract a fine of N5 million,” he said.
Danbatta further stated that the NCC will henceforth ensures that credit deducted from subscribers on unsolicited text message is refunded back besides invoking the N5 million fine on the operator.
He however admitted that the fine would come as a measure of last resort, stressing that this is to ensure total compliance to safe guard the consumers from being exploited by telecom operators.
His words: “We are now at the stage of imposing this direction as I speak to you.The DND option that enables the consumers to opt out of the process of receiving unsolicited text message. The directive empowers the consumers to tell the operator to stop sending him/her unsolicited text message.”
The NCC boss disclosed that the commission has designated 2017 to empower subscribers on their rights, adding: “The directive is very clear to the operators but unfortunately the level of activation by the consumers is abysmally low as only one per cent of 180 million people have activated the DND option.
He explains; “That means only 1.8 million Nigerians really understand the direction on how to activate the DND directive.
“We are not happy about it because we feel the consumers continue to be at the receiving end from unsolicited text messages sent by mobile network operators and we intend to address this drastically.”
The EVC maintained that the commission would improve on its education and sensitisation of consumers to appreciate the DND, adding that it targets 50 per cent of consumers at the end of the campaign drive.
He urged the academia and research institutes in the telecom space to come up with solutions to the myriads of problems confronting the quality of service, congestion control and channels controls in the sector.
According to him, “All the models that we came up with in the course of research could be put to use even if it is on pilot basis in order to find solutions to intractable problems of quality of service.
“So this engagement is quite apt, especially in view of the fact that we intend to make 2017 the year of the consumer. We intend to make sure that most of the directions issued out that are not understood by the consumers will be addressed.”
Danbatta said the commission would listen to the consumer, educate them on issues that are too technical to comprehend: “We intend to come down to the level of the consumers in order to get him to buy into the various regulations that are consumer centric and so in the process of trying to accomplish this objective, I think the university system has important role to play”.
Continuing, he said: “How do we simplify complex regulatory processes to the level that ordinary people can understand them in a manner that we convey this to the public, how do we simplify the technical issues that are associated with these regulations so that these can be understood by the people we have undertake in our 8 point agenda.
“How do we use broken-English for instance for the consumers in far locations to understand how to activate the DND option, that will empower the consumer to entertain any text message that he/she wants in order to opt out of any messages that he or she is not interested.
“How do we translate the various options in a way and manner that ordinary consumer will be able to understand and therefore activate whatever option of the DND option that we have diligently came up with as only about 1.8 million Nigerians have activated now going by the statistics of NCC for a population of 180 million which is about 1.8 percent.”
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