The growth in the nation’s telecommunications sector has been described as phenomenon, surpassing all projections from both operators and the regulator alike. The only person, probably not surprised is the consumer who has been literally starved of communications services the four decades prior to the time liberalisation of the telecommunications sector brought respite.
An industry leader noted that the late development of Nigeria Telecommunications industry brought forth the law of supply against demand, and this has placed consumer in the back stage. Whilst stakeholders have made continuous efforts to develop and roll out networks in order to capture a share of the market, not equal amount of effort has been made towards consumer complaints resolution.
Consequently, the telecom consumer faces another kind of battle, namely, that of getting value for money and receiving appreciable level of services from networks operators.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the regulator for the sector, has attempted, time and again, to set quality of service benchmark, but telecommunications operators have chosen to conveniently ignore them and not treat the customer as the king that he is.
The NCC
If the truth be told, the Commission has been very active and innovative over the years in protecting and promoting the interest of consumers of communications services. The Commission remains the only agency of government to provide a regular platform to encourage the consumers to publicly voice their complaints in fulfillment of its mandate for consumer protection and empowerment.
In addition, the Commission is supportive of the activities of several Consumer Advocacy Groups, and is known to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to further ensure protection of Consumers in relation to telecom service delivery.
The NCC even went ahead to establish a department, the Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), for this purpose. The CAB, set up in September 2001, is meant to inform, educate and protect all the consumers of telecommunications services in Nigeria. And it has as its motto “Take advantage of us, so no one takes advantage of you”.
Evidently, the bureau was established to generate awareness of consumer rights in Nigeria and to monitor telecommunications operators in order to protect consumers from unscrupulous practices in the industry. But when one considers the minuscule number of telephone users who even know of the existence of the CAB, it quickly becomes obvious how effective the department has been.
The CAB has a Call Centre (Help-desk, if you please) to simplify access to its compliant resolution efforts and protection of the telecommunications consumers. But how many people know the numbers of the centre? The answer, again, is very few.
It is understood that the consumer can make formal complaint in writing, which would then be assigned to an officer of the bureau who would then contact the service provider and resolve the problem. Pray, where is the office the consumer would submit the written compliant?
Notwithstanding, one thing that cannot be taken away from the bureau is the first face-to-face interaction and telecom consumers’ complaint resolution forum in the world, the monthly Telecom Consumer Parliament.
Consumer Parliament
The consumer parliament, an initiative of the regulatory commission through the CAB, has been identified as the third of a series of inventiveness by the NCC to cope with the tremendous growth witnessed in the Nigerian telecommunications market place. The other two are the Digital Bridge Institute and the CAB itself.
Eng. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman of the NCC, notes that the commission serves three constituencies; the government, the consumer, and the operator. “We need to balance the three contending constituencies to make sure we have a good flow and that we achieve the aim we want to achieve,” he stated.
He contends that the consumer parliament provides such a forum where the three parties come together to address issues of mutual concern. The whole idea is to protect the consumer.
Four years and 47 editions after, however, the spate of complains has not diminished.
On the upside, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has formally recognised the Nigerian consumer parliament as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism that can be used to actually address fundamental issues that concern consumers and their relationship with operators, and the regulators for that matter.
Indeed, experts note that while it addresses only a small number of consumer care issues directly, it creates a platform to bring the operators and regulator in the know of issues affecting the wider segment of telephone subscribers. Operators billing subscribers for migration from per minute to per second billing platform is one of such issues.
Situating Consumer Right
According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are four elements that safeguard consumer rights in the telecommunication ICT sector: consumer rights law, competition law, telecommunication/ICT and Internet law, and self-regulatory frameworks.
Telecom law usually enables the setting up of a separate regulatory authority (In this case the NCC via the Communications Act of 2003) and self-regulatory frameworks, usually contained within the licence for an operator or are self-imposed. Without these four elements, it is difficult for consumer’s complaints to be dealt with, as there will be no framework for dealing with them and no recourse if operators (or others) fail to deal with them.
So while the regulator may act “on behalf” of the consumer, but no matter how closely they consult with them, they cannot alone represent the consumer. There is no substitute for consumers themselves having a voice. Likewise when the industry itself argues for greater competition, its interests coincide with those of consumers and its trade associations often speak up for consumers.
Now, many of the problems consumers have had to contend with are network issues such as inability to make or receive calls, inability to recharge, high rate of drop calls, non-access to figures on scratch cards, queried deduction among others. And the consumer in Nigeria, sadly, had up until recently been made to pay for the operators’ network deficiencies.
In fact the CPC and the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) literally had to go to war against the operators to get them to stop making the consumer pay for accessing the customer care lines of the service providers. This is in- spite of several directives from the NCC on the matter.
Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, President, NATCOMS, urged operators to see the customer care lines as business continuity issue, providing feedback necessary for the sustenance of their operations.
Going Forward
Emerging markets, it would appear are suffocated by media hype on introduction of technologies, which arrive only to continue the spread of poor quality of service at very expensive prices. But it is time the discerning operators begin to see that service, solutions, and not technology jargons, are what the consumer wants
Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications
Operator of Nigeria (ALTON) obverses that other than promos and winning of luxury items, no telecom operator holds Consumer forum, on their own, to give an opportunity to their subscribers to discuss unresolved complaints as well as concerns. Definitely, such a forum would prove useful to addressing consumer issues effectively.
He insists, in addition, that operators locate consumer helpdesks nearer to subscribers and work to solve each complaint and inquiry that is received individually, noting that with the ongoing increase and diversification of the complaints and inquiries, the service agents are required to have greater knowledge of the entire service offering of their Company and its business.
Clearly, the task of ensuring that the telecom consumer gets value for money and is effectively protected is one the regulator, the operators, consumer right groups and the consumer himself must take up.
And like Adebayo noted it just might be necessary for each operator to set up a Corporate Code of Conduct to deal with consumers, in order for the subscribers to be aware of their rights and of the operator’s obligations to them.
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