High rate of unsolicited messages worries subscribers

The high rate of unsolicited messages and calls from telecom operators in the country is giving many subscribers a lot of concerns, and the problem is not likely to go way soon. The increasing rate of the unwelcomed short messages is also making telecom consumers to wonder if the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission […]

The high rate of unsolicited messages and calls from telecom operators in the country is giving many subscribers a lot of concerns, and the problem is not likely to go way soon.
The increasing rate of the unwelcomed short messages is also making telecom consumers to wonder if the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), could ever end the problem.
But the NCC said it is currently working on how to save the Nigerians of this ‘headache’.
Many subscribers who spoke with Daily Trust in Abuja, Lagos and some other Nigerian cities shared similar experiences on how the unsolicited messages and calls are intruding into their private lives, and this is affecting their health, according to some of them. They believed NCC is not doing enough to curtail the problem.
“I receive about nine unsolicited messages per week from MTN. Some of them will ask if I want to subscribe to certain service”, said an Abuja based subscriber Rosemary Idoko, who is a student.
“There was a time I called MTN, that I did not want the message but they promised to stop it. They gave me a code to ‘unsubscribe’, but instead new messages started coming. It’s annoying.”
Another subscriber, Ramatu Bello, a corps member, urged NCC to check the excesses of the telecommunication companies who disturb the subscribers with unwanted adverts. 
“They have been deducting my money for a service I did not subscribe for. Each day Airtel sends me news which I never subscribed for and they deduct N10 for that. It’s wrong. I am a journalist, I don’t need their news.  I want NCC to sanction them and ask them to refund the money they have been deducting from my account”, Christopher Kaura, who is a journalist, said.
On her part, Khairah Seyilola told Daily Trust she was frustrated with the unwanted messages recently that she had to turn off her phone for the rest of the day because “it was already affecting my health.”
When Daily Trust spoke with the telecom operators on the matter, they said they were making efforts to reduce the frequency of the messages, and that the problem could not be eradicated completely.
The General Secretary of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Mr Gbolohan Awonuga said: “Nigerians should be patient with us. We are doing something in collaborating with NCC to at least reduce the frequency because it can’t be totally eradicated.”
The NCC said it had mandated the operators to create a DND (do not disturb) database for subscribers who do not want to receive unsolicited messages on their lines.
NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman Prof Umar Garba Danbatta said this in Kuru, Jos, recently when he addressed the Course 38th participants of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
He said the commission had directed that a subscriber “who has given a ‘do- not-disturb’ notice must not be sent any form of advert stressing that operators sending the advert must ensure that the messages also comply with industry code of conduct and Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) regulations”.
He said Nigerians would soon begin to see reduction in unsolicited messages and calls as soon as the operators complete the DND installation.
President of the National Association Telecoms Subscriber (NATCOMS) Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo said that it is good that NCC is now tackling the problem of unsolicited messages and calls. He commended the regulator for the bold step taken on the issue, and advised it not to look back in its implementation.
He said NCC should ensure that no erring operator, host service provider or Value Added Service provider is spared when they fail to comply.