Telecoms: Group demands compensation for poor service

In a letter to the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body of telecom operators in the country, NATCOMS, said that the last 12 years of GSM in Nigeria have been characterized by call failure rate, call drop rate, call set-up rate, call completion rate, billing accuracy, voice quality, network outages […]

In a letter to the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body of telecom operators in the country, NATCOMS, said that the last 12 years of GSM in Nigeria have been characterized by call failure rate, call drop rate, call set-up rate, call completion rate, billing accuracy, voice quality, network outages / downtimes, spectrum efficiency, international roaming, traffic channel congestion.
 NATCOMS president, Deolu Ogunbanjo, in the letter addressed to Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON chairman said that “Subscribers in Nigeria are requesting from all telecommunications operators in Nigeria a compensation of N5, 000 each to call any network, for 12 years (Baker’s Dozen Years) of total loyalty, storm weathering, patronage through thick and thin as well as standing by them, even in the face of poor quality service”.
The letter titled “Compensation Request of N5000 each for subscribers in Nigeria in the face of Poor Quality of Service – 12 Years After,” said that when GSM was introduced commercially in August 2001 gave subscribers on their network N6,000.00 free to call any network.
“We appreciate this gesture as the introduction of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) in Nigeria in 2001 has brought about positive changes for individuals, corporate organizations, government at all levels and the country at large. It has saved thousands of lives in emergency, created and still creating jobs for many Nigerians, eased communications within families, work places and across nations,” he said.
The group said that apart from bringing Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) into Nigeria and appreciating Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it brought foreign and local investors’ confidence to the Nigerian economy and nation.
Critical infrastructure essential for digital economy – Ndukwe
Former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr. Ernest Ndukwe has said that critical infrastructure is essential for the enthronement of digital economy.
Ndukwe, in a paper he presented at an internet forum in Abuja, noted that the term critical Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure for Nigeria in the recently launched Nigerian National Broadband plan was defined as “ICT networks and systems that are crucial to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the extent that the damage, destruction or ineffectiveness of such networks and systems, whether physical or virtual, would have adverse impact on national security, economic wellbeing, public safety, food security or any combination thereof.”
He explained that ICT networks are making it possible for African nations to participate in the world economy in ways that simply were not possible, adding that in the past, ICTs including Broadband constitute essential infrastructure of the Digital Economy of today.
Ndukwe, who also was the co-chairman, the Presidential National Broadband Committee, maintained that no plan for modern economy could be sustained today without adequate and pervasive ICT infrastructure.