The recent directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission that all telecoms operators must henceforth give a 14-day window to subscribers, after the expiration of their monthly data subscriptions, to exhaust their unused data bundle before rolling over, is a regulatory directive that would excite many Nigerians. Emma Okonji reports

There are myriads of complaints from telecoms subscribers that service providers do not give them enough time to exhaust their monthly data subscription plans before they are either disconnected or forced to roll over the excess data bundle to the next month after purchasing another monthly data plan. To address this concern, the Nigerian Communications Commission recently issued a directive to the telecoms operators.

‘Year of Telecoms Consumers’

NCC, the telecoms industry regulator, penultimate week, issued a directive that all telecoms operators must allow a 14-day window, after the expiration of the 30 days data plan, to enable subscribers completely use their current monthly data subscription plans, before rolling over the unused data to the next month after purchasing a new monthly data plan. The decision of NCC to address the ubiquitous complaint by subscribers is in line with its resolve to always protect the interest of telecoms consumers. The resolve followed the regulatory body’s declaration of 2017 as the year of telecoms consumers.

Although the directive may likely affect the revenue stream of telecoms operators, especially the smaller operators, they have no choice but to comply with the regulatory directive. This is more so as no service provider would want to violate the regulator’s directive, for fear of sanction.

Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, penultimate week, directed all telecoms operators in the country to henceforth give customers a 14-day grace period to exhaust their remaining data after the expiration of the 30 days validity period for monthly data subscriptions. The monthly data subscriptions of all the telecommunications operators in the country give customers a 30-day period to exhaust their subscriptions or rollover unused data by subscribing for another 30 days data before the expiration of the previous one.

Danbatta gave the directive in Minna, capital of Niger State, during a telecoms consumer forum organised by the NCC. He was represented at the event by Hellen Obi.

Danbatta advised the consumers to call NCC on the toll-free line, 622, if their complaints were not resolved by their network providers, assuring them that the commission will take up the matter and resolve it, where the operators failed to do so.

“NCC has mandated all network providers to give their subscribers 14 days of grace after the 30 days expiration of their data, if they still have data left and cannot recharge, to get their data rolled over,” Obi said.

According to Obi, “The commission, which is the independent regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria, declared year 2017 as the year of the telecoms consumer in recognition of the importance of the consumer to the phenomenal growth and development in the telecoms sector.

“The year of telecom consumer, which was formally launched by Danbatta, is in tandem with the 8-point agenda of the commission, aimed at protecting, educating, and empowering consumers towards ensuring sustainable growth and further development in the telecom sector.”

Obi said the consumers’ forum was organised around the country to educate consumers on their rights and privileges in the relationship with their service providers.

She revealed that the NCC had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Central Bank of Nigeria, which mandated the CBN to advise the banks on enlightenment of their customers on fake messages that often requested them to send their bank verification numbers or account details.

Equal Protection

Looking at the implication of the NCC’s directive on data rollover and the 14 days window, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, said the telecoms service providers had to comply with the directive, since it is a regulatory directive. Adebayo, however, raised some salient points, which in his views, must be addressed by the NCC to protect the telecoms operators from running at a loss, just the same way NCC is protecting telecoms consumers from what is perceived by many as the excesses of telecoms operators.

“Telecoms operators have no choice than to comply with the directive, but the bottom line is that NCC is protecting the consumers at the detriment of the service providers, in relation to the 14 days compulsory window for data rollover,” Adebayo said. “The smaller operators will definitely lose money in the process because they spend so much money to maintain their networks.”

He explained that the NCC needed to understand the large number of subscribers that would benefit from the directive, who usually have unused data at the end of the initial 30 days validity period of their data bundle subscriptions.

According to Adebayo, “Directives of this nature will underscore the importance of the data floor price that was suspended by NCC, following complaints from the same telecoms subscribers that the NCC is protecting. In protecting the telecoms consumers, NCC must also balance the situation by revisiting the suspended data floor price, which seeks to fix a new price cap for data services across networks.”

He said if NCC must enforce the 14 days window on data rollover, it should also consider the reintroduction of the suspended data floor price in order to cushion the effect of the loss of revenue that operators would face based on the directive.

 Data Floor Price

Data price floor is one of the regulatory safeguards normally put in place by the telecommunications regulator to check anticompetitive practices, particularly, by the dominant operators. It is a minimum price on data services as stipulated by government or the regulator.

Giving reason why it was introduced in the first instance, Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said the introduction of price floor for data services in the country was to address market distortions, unhealthy price wars and value erosion that could threaten the concerns of the service providers.

NCC had on November 1, 2016 written to the mobile network operators on the determination of an interim price floor for data services after a stakeholder’s consultative meeting on October 19, 2016. As at November 1, 2016, the industry average for data tariff floor for dominant operators, including, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, EMTS Limited (Etisalat), now 9mobile, and Airtel Nigeria Limited, was N0.53k/MB. But the interim price floor as introduced by NCC, which was to commence with effect from December 1, 2016, seeks to increase the industry average for data tariff from 53k/MB to 90k/MB.

But the smaller operators/new entrants, like Smile Communications, Spectranet, and ntel, charged different rates. Smile Communications charged N0.84k/MB, Spectranet charged N0.58k/MB and ntel charged N0.72k/MB.

Considering the initial rate of 45k/MB, which MTN charged, and the new rate of N90k/MB, as contained in the interim floor price for data services, which was supposed to take effect from December 1, 2016, MTN went ahead to inform its over 61 million subscribers that it would increase data tariff with effect from December 1, 2016. The information to MTN subscribers, which was sent via Short Message Service, otherwise known as text message, raised a lot of dust among subscribers across networks, who started calling on NCC and the operators to rescind the decision on data tariff hike.

Following the complaints from subscribers, NCC decided to suspend any further action in that direction till date.

Adebayo says if NCC must enforce the 14 days window on data rollover, it should also revisit the suspended data floor price, which seeks to increase data tariff.

Need to Protect Telecom Consumers

Protecting telecoms consumers has been the utmost priority of the regulator, little wonder NCC declared 2017 as the year of the telecoms consumers. The commission has vowed to protect the consumers.

While launching the year of telecoms consumers in Lagos a few months ago, Danbatta said consumers were the reason for the great feat attained in the telecoms industry since the inception of Global System for Mobile Communications in 2001. He said consumers had spent their hard earned monies to pay for telecoms services over the years and they are the reason why the operators are still in business.

Danbatta said he would do everything possible to protect the consumers, which, obviously, is behind the 14 days window for data rollover, among other incentives for telecoms subscribers.

SOURCE: https://brandspurng.com/ncc-moves-to-protect-subscribers-with-directive-on-data-rollover/

Good to hear but they should also stop those selected sims offers by those telecom guys


first to comment.


First time in history

Rubbish govt, what's the essence of roll over when the data can't roll (last) up to 2weeks?

BlueBrothers:
The recent directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission that all telecoms operators must henceforth give a 14-day window to subscribers, after the expiration of their monthly data subscriptions, to exhaust their unused data bundle before rolling over, is a regulatory directive that would excite many Nigerians. Emma Okonji reports

There are myriads of complaints from telecoms subscribers that service providers do not give them enough time to exhaust their monthly data subscription plans before they are either disconnected or forced to roll over the excess data bundle to the next month after purchasing another monthly data plan. To address this concern, the Nigerian Communications Commission recently issued a directive to the telecoms operators.....

SOURCE: https://brandspurng.com/ncc-moves-to-protect-subscribers-with-directive-on-data-rollover/

SMILE Telecoms is the worst culprit out of them all. They will tell you a few hours to the expiry date, that your data bundle period will expire in a few hours but you still have like 1.5MB left. In order to access it, you need to recharge immediately. If you do not recharge and the date expires, na gobe be dat. You have lost the remaining data bundle for life. They still expect you to pay for another fresh data bundle to surf the web. See how they rip innocent customers off? Hopeless people...

Good move from NCC

It's useless in my opinion. I can use 1gb in 1 day

MTN now sells 1.5GB at N1200..

Really funny.

Please SAVE OUR SOUL and pockets from this providers o!, Biko NCC!

Reduce prize not protect

Cool move

Nice one there NCC, though I read of someone using a tecno phone and was complaining bitterly about how his data was running out at a very rapid rate. Is that an issue from the phone or the network in use?

MTN 1k Data sub does not lax up to 5 dayz IF u really want to enjoy internet.

MTN has increase 1k sub to #1200.


Useless pple

Lol. Packing water from a room and not trying to block the hole where the water is coming from. Shebi eez data wey remain naim pelsin wee rollover. 3gig wey no dey last 3 weeks, na data bundle be dat? I think the NCC should look into telcos data charges and reduce it

rollover for data that doesn't even last up to one week?

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MTN data that won't even last till the day of expiration
Mtceeew

good move

prices are meant to be reduce not this scrapy stuff they re implying

Good & brilliant move. NCC is working.
See levels o, so all this small children Wey they look for likes and first-time to comment na 1gb dem dey buy . Yet post rubbish everytime. Still have accumulated 200gb on my WiFi to always roll over.

Okay

Ok. The crazy providers will make life more difficult by criminally taking of data claiming that you used it.

If NCC is an ordinary paper regulator without sound IT infrastructure in place to checkmate the providers' excesses, the providers will continue to make life difficult.

NCC has never and can never protect our interest. This is just a hoax to make the telecom operators settle.

jesse8048:
Rubbish govt, what's the essence of roll over when the data can't roll (last) up to 2weeks?

I checked my expiration time and it is March 2018, I do sub one month today and it gets finished in less than 96hours....Ncc and misplaced priorities are like 5_6

berra

brainpulse:
Good & brilliant move. NCC is working.
See levels o, so all this small children Wey they look for likes and first-time to comment na 1gb dem dey buy . Yet post rubbish everytime. Still have almost 200gb on my WiFi to always roll over.

forget that proud talk we you dey spew oo, subscription now no be beans infact that's why I hardly engage in e-wars coz u never know who is on the other end.it takes a really hardworking person to be online these days oo even most guys who claim to be big boiz in my area can't even afford a smartphone let alone sub

Nice one

Abudu2000:
forget that proud talk we you dey spew oo, subscription now no be beans infact that's why I hardly engage in e-wars coz u never know who is on the other end.it takes a really hardworking person to be online these days oo even most guys who claim to be big boiz in my area can't even afford a smartphone let alone sub

I understand sha. God bless your hustle and stay focus.

When can I buy 20gb for 4k. Don't tell me it's impossible because Tstv has said it's possible