| NCC assures end to
GSM phone theft by Dec.
By CHRISTIAN OCHIAMA
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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•Gov.
Rotimi Amechi of Rivers state and Engr. Ernest Ndukwe
at the NCC office in Abuja
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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The menace of mobile handset thefts in Nigeria will soon
be over as the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, announced
that the handset anti-theft system that would render any stolen
mobile phone handset in the country useless, would come into
operation before December 2008, and would completely bar any
of such phones from being used in any of the phone networks.
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NCC, Engr.
Ernest Ndukwe who broke the cheery news at the 47th Consumer
Parliament which held at Awka, Anambra State, also said that
the regulatory body has concluded plans to force down the
current tariffs being charged by phone operators for Short
Messaging Services, SMS, in the country so as to assist more
people to communicate more easily and more cheaply.
Engr. Ndukwe who said that the issue of phone thefts in the
country has been of major concern to the regulator, added
that the anti-theft system was developed with collaboration
of the mobile phone operators, and that a company has been
licensed to manage the system. He said that the system would
require that all the mobile operators, including GSM and CDMA
networks, to link their data to the system such that once
theft of any phone handset is reported, it will never work
in any other network in Nigeria.
On the plans to reduce the cost of SMS which is still up to
N15 in some networks, Engr. Ndukwe said that the commission
was looking into the matter and said that he expected the
operators to reduce the tariffs soon or the commission will
take its action.
“SMS is one of the cheapest things to offer in the network
in terms of services, and many young people use this service.
It is cheaper and easier and when more people use it, it will
also free the networks of congestion. If the operators do
not react, we will react. We will probably put a sealing on
this service”, he said.
The NCC boss also observed that checks by the Commission in
Awka and the surrounding areas showed that all the operators
have failed terms of customer care for its subscribers. He
admonished the operators to leave up to their responsibilities
to ensure customer satisfaction with the provision of customer
care facilities for quick resolution of complaints.
Engr. Ndukwe, explained to the phone consumers that the essence
of the parliament is to feel their pulse and to assess the
facilities which the operators have put together to offer
quality services to the people.
He told them that some of the quality of service challenges
in the system are traceable to the operators while some are
beyond the operators but that the commission recently imposed
some compensation on the operators to mitigate these challenges.
“This is the first time that any group of customers
have been so compensated in any part of Africa, and we have
not seen in it any part of the world. So, we are proud to
achieve that for the consumers in this country”, he
said.
On the promise to provide broadband services in the country,
Engr. Ndukwe said that some operators are already offering
3G broadband Internet capabilities while some others a providing
WIMAX services. He said many Nigerian cities will experience
broadband services by mid next year through the State Accelerated
Broadband Initiative, SABI, in which the NCC is providing
subsidy to some of the perators to mplement.
Following complaints about vandalization of operators’
equipment, the NCC boss said the commission is more concerned
about one company damaging cables of other companies and that
the regulator is coming up with some rules about these. However,
he said the regulator is not the police to be able to arrest
those who vandalize equipments.
“If there is wilful damage to your equipment, you have
the option of suing the company involved to get mitigation
for damages which NCC cannot offer”, he said. He also
noted that vandalization of telecom equipment is not peculiar
to Nigeria alone but that the NCC is planning to convene a
meeting of all the operators in the country to find the lasting
solution to the issue.
The matter of inaccurate billings was also discussed at the
special session of the parliament during which the NCC advised
the operators to ensure that they provide adequate billing
information to the consumers while urging the consumers to
be alert at such billings to report where there are anomalies.
He said the consumers should first report any complaint to
the operator and where there is no solution to the satisfaction
of the consumer, then, such consumer can report to the NCC
for resolution in the interest of the consumer.
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