Why consumer must be focus of NCC in 2018

 Success Damian:

Questions of consumer welfare within the telecommunications ecosystem have been raging for so many years in Nigeria.

Ideally, this led to the formation of the Consumer Affairs Bureau which is one of the key departments of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). It was created in September 2001 by the Commission through the provision of Chapter VII of Nigerian Communications Act (NCA 2003), in particular, Part I of the chapter deals with Consumer Protection and Quality of Service.

For purposes of enlightenment, consumers of telecommunication services who are dissatisfied with services rendered to them by any of the Service Providers have a right to seek redress. A dissatisfied Consumer should first contact the Service Provider whose service or product he/she is dissatisfied with to lodge a complaint.

In the event that the complaint is not satisfactorily resolved by the Service Provider, the Consumer can escalate the complaint to the Commission via any of the following channels; Write a letter of complaint to the Commission and, or call the NCC 622 toll free line.

Prof. Umar Dambatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, in the year 2017 said “Customer is King” is an age-old business mantra highlighting the importance of customers (and would-be customers) in every business.

Traditionally, this rule usually entails a company’s promise to provide good customer services to the customers. But with the current evolution on work and business settings coupled with technological advancement, ‘customer is king’ means more than just good customer service.

“Today the markets are guided by the desire and satisfaction of customers. Customer eccentricity is extremely essential to a business, organisation and institution because without customers there won’t be business.”

In most of the economic sectors of Nigeria, the consumers are still being treated with disdain, even in the telecoms sector, especially with poor services and several scam messages.

Considering the huge contribution of Consumers to growth of telecom sector within the last two years, they deserve a modicum of respect

Dambatta said “telecommunications subscribers have added about N11.9 billion to the Nigerian economy in the last two years.”

Specifically, Danbatta said consumers contributed N5.6 billion and N6.3 billion to the telecommunications industry in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

He also informed that the activities of the consumers, about 155 million of them, increased the contributions of the sector to the GDP from eight per cent to nine per cent in Q1, 2017.

Danbatta said the NCC 2017 Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer is remarkable because the telecommunication consumer is centre stage.

“We must also remember that these consumers together have made all the success stories we speak about possible in the telecom industry today.

The NCC boss said as a regulator, NCC has the mandate to ensure all its key stakeholders are protected and their interests balanced in an atmosphere of fairness, transparency and within the framework of the NCA 2003 and other subsidiary legislations.

A year ago the NCC launched an 8-Point Agenda. The agenda, which will drive the NCC until 2020 aims, among other things, to facilitate broadband penetration; improve quality of service; optimize usage and benefits of spectrum; promote ICT innovation and investment opportunities; facilitate strategic collaboration and partnership; protect and empower consumers; promote fair competition and inclusive growth and ensure regulatory excellence and operational efficiency.

An assessment of customer experience showed that telecom service providers are still kings and not customers. Unsolicited messages are on the rise, fake and non-existing promos and bonuses still subsist and numerous other infractions. It is hoped that come 2018, NCC will designed more appropriate ways to enhance and enrich customer experience for the better.