NCC and telcos agree to retain consumer compensation policy

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunications operators in the country have agreed to retain the consumer compensation policy, which mandates operators to rollover data for consumers.

The agreement was sealed recently at the regular bi-annual meeting of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Senior Executives of telecommunication companies on complaints management, which was held virtually for the first time in compliance with COVID-19 management protocols instituted by the Federal Government.

The agreement will ensure full compliance with the new Complaint Categories and Service Level Agreement (CC/SLA) consented to by the NCC and the service providers in the telecommunication ecosystem.

“The Commission hereby wish to restate that its direction of June 2018 to service providers to commence implementation of data rollover from 26 June 2018, remains in force. In other words, a subscriber’s unused data must be rolled over to his/her subsequent data subscription. Therefore, the Commission urges service providers to continue to inform and educate subscribers on the procedures and processes for data rollover,” NCC announced in a statement signed Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, its Director of Public Affairs.

The statement also disclosed that service providers agreed to ensure that senior-level customer relations officers support their respective complaints management teams, to resolve complaints that were not resolved to the satisfaction of the consumers when such complaints were first reported.

Accordingly, service providers have promised to ensure that complaints are resolved in both the letter and spirit of the recently-reviewed Service Level Agreement (SLA).

With respect to services subscribed to through third parties (such as banks), which are not rendered, the meeting resolved that telecom service providers should explore initiating service level agreement with banks to ensure uniformity and speed in the resolution of complaints relating to billing.

All parties to the meeting equally agreed that telecom service providers will carry out pervasive consumer education and enlightenment campaigns about their products and services to ensure their subscribers have the information they require to make informed decisions and get value for money spent.

The bi-annual meeting, which has held regularly since 2018, focuses on ensuring improvement in Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) in the telecom industry. It has served as a veritable platform for the Commission and service providers to discuss and agree on measures that will enhance prompt and effective consumer complaint resolution in telecom service provision in Nigeria.