Subscribers to operators: pay compensation ByLucas Ajanaku. On Mar 6th, 2014 at 00:37 Filed under:e-Business The three major networks, MTN, Airtel and Globacom were fined N647.5 million by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for allegedly not meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The operators described the fine as “needless”, but their subscribers are asking for compensation from them for what they call poor services. The regulator of the telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in its pursuit of its mandate of protecting the subscribers took steps to right the wrongs by slamming fines on three of the operators. Previous futile attempts Attempts to enthrone quality service delivery in the past made NCC and operators to agree to abide by key performance indicators (KPIs). The KPIs are Call Set-up Success Rate (CSSR), Call Completion Rate (CCR), Stand-alone Dedicated Controlled Channel Congestion (SDCCC), Hand-over Success Rate (HSR) and Traffic Channel Congestion (TCC). Breach of these KPIs has led to NCC imposing fines on the operators. Last year, the regulator imposed a fine of N360 million each on MTN and Etisalat on the one hand while. Airtel was required to pay N270 million and Globacom was fined N180 million on the other, all failing to meet the KPIs set by the regulatory agency. CSSR denotes the fraction of the attempts to make a call which result in a connection to the called number. For some reasons, call attempts do not always result in a connection. CSSR, therefore, measures the success rate against the attempts.. New sanctions A total N647.50 million was imposed on MTN, Airtel and Globacom for failing to meet the KPIs for quality of service in January, this year. The three firms were also barred from selling subscriber identity module (SIM) cards with effect from 1st till 31st of March 2014, and further barred from all promotions in their networks until they improve on the failed KPIs for which they were sanctioned. The details of the sanction showed that Airtel and MTN are to pay a fine of N185 million each while Globacom is liable to pay N277,500. In addition, each of the operators must pay the sanction amount on or before tomorrow, failure upon which each will be liable to pay N2.5million per day as long as the contravention persists. The sanctions, which were communicated to the three operators in a letter endorsed by the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the Commission will carry out an audit of the three companies on March 1, 2014 and also on March 31, this year, to ensure that no sale of new SIM cards takes place in any of the three networks within the period. The letter made reference to an earlier directive of December 10, which warned the operators that “if the Quality of Service does not improve by December 31, 2013, the Commission will be compelled to direct operators to, among others, suspend the activation of new SIMs and subscribers until such an operator can prove that it has met the KPIs specified in the regulations”. Juwah said: “The Commission after careful collation of statistics from the Network Operating Centres, NOC, of all major networks operators for the month of January, this year has concluded that the service provided by some of the operators during the period fell below the KPI published by the Commission in the Quality of Service Regulations, as amended.” Details of the sanction also indicated that Airtel failed on Call Setup Success Rate, CSSR, and SDCONG, while MTN failed on Call Setup Success Rate , CSSR and Drop Call Rate, DCR. On its part, Globacom failed on Call Setup Success Rate, CSSR, Drop Call Rate, DCR, and SDCONG. NATCOMS reacts The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) said it has gone to court to stop the payment of the fines to the NCC. Its President, Deolu Ogunbanjo said the group has taken the decision in view of a matter it has pending in court bothering on the same subject matter. But the ordinary men on street said since they are the ones that are usually at the receiving end of the inadequacies of the operators, they should be compensated by way of air time, arguing that previous sanctions have failed to elicit the desired effect. They argue that under the former EVC Ernest Ndukwe in 2007, they were compensated with airtime. Juwah disagrees. He said: “Don’t think that they pay fines so easily. The last time we sanctioned them, they paid about N2.5 million each and they are forced to publish it in their annual reports. For some of them that are listed in stock exchanges like Johannesburg; it affects them more seriously than people think.” Juwah said after the fine, operators had prevailed upon the regulator to lower the KPIs which it did, adding that while the operators have been passing the test conducted on the network, end-user experience has been nothing to write home about. He said the operators’ business model was not helping matters.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:36:19 +0000
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