By Collins Nnabuif ...



The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami has issued a broad policy directive to the sector regulator Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to immediately ensure that issues regarding automatic voicemails are addressed on all existing phone lines and the subscribers, given the option of accessing the service via an activation code.

According to a statement issued by the Spokesperson to the Minister, Mrs Uwa Suleiman, it described it as financial exploitation by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country, through the automatic activation of the Voicemail Service on their platforms.

The statement said the Voicemail service should be accessed at the discretion of the subscriber and not by default.

It noted that the Minister finds it worrisome and totally unacceptable, that telecoms subscribers incur financial charges, for a service they are compelled to use by default.

“Voicemail is not a popular service among mobile phone users in Nigeria, coupled with the language challenge among rural dwellers, who mostly do not understand the language deployed by these networks”, the statement added.

“It is apparent, that the recent clampdown on the exploitative activities of some Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country, has beamed the searchlight on the sector properly, and some unpatriotic elements in the system are devising subtle, ingenious methods of defrauding Nigerians,” the statement said.

obiekunie2:
fantastic order!

is not only villagers they exploit oo!

even some city dwellers like me often get scammed by network operators thru it - cause majority of the time i dial numbers and wait for the person to pick before i place the phone on my ears - before u know it, the call has entered voice mail and before you realize its voicemail some seconds has already passed and your credit deducted as usual!


OGA ABEG USE SAME AVENUE TO TELL BANKS TO STOP SENDING ME UNSOLICITED TEXT MESSAGES THAT THEY STILL DEDUCT FROM MY ACCOUNT!

LIKE THEIR USELESS BIRTHDAY MESSAGE THEY STILL BILL MY ACCOUNT FOR THE TEXT!

NyenwePHC:


One of the best minister, this man doesn't have time for bullshit propaganda that the useless APC are known for, He is just result-oriented and focussed.
Imagine less than few hours of giving this directives useless MTN bowed down immediately and suspended their automatic voicemail. Honestly the ripoff from MTN was becoming alarming, that one have to be ready immediately to disconnect an outgoing call once that "autovoice" sound