The Nation Newspaper

Tag: QoS

  • ‘NCC committed to improving QoS’

    ‘NCC committed to improving QoS’

    • CPC lauds Dambatta

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has assured subscribers that it is committed to tackling the isue of poor telecoms quality of service (QoS).

    Its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Dambatta yesterday in Abuja, told the Director-General, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs. Dupe Atoki, that the Commission is on top of the issue, adding that it is the right of the subscribers to get value commensurate with their money.

    Responding to the consumer complaints Atoki brought to the NCC, Dambatta stressed that only the NCC has the capacity to determine the technical parameters that affect QoS.

    He said: “The problem with QoS is not only on technical factors. It’s also affected by non-technical factors as well.”

    He listed lack of steady power supply, vandalism of telecoms infrastructure, multiple regulations and multiple taxations as part of the non-technical factors that negatively affect QoS.

    Atoki who was on a courtesy visit commended  Dambatta and pledged the Council’s support for him as he strives to institutionalise international best practices in the telecom sector.

  • QoS: Telcos get Jan. deadline on subscribers’ compensation

    QoS: Telcos get Jan. deadline on subscribers’ compensation

    With effect from January next year, it no longer would be business as usual with quality of service (QoS) as the regulator of the telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has set up a committee to look into how consumers would be compensated directly by telcos for loss of air time due to their inefficiencies.

    NCC said the telcos have been given up till January next year to come up with proposals on how consumers could be compensated directly.

    This is perhaps a reaction to the agitation of telecoms subscribers that have never concealed their disgust at the current practice where the telcos are fined and payment made to the coffers of the Federal Government. They described the practice as unjust since they are the ones that suffer the poor QoS from the telcos.

    The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, Mrs Maryam Bayi who spoke during the Fourth Quarterly Meeting of the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) organised by the regulator in Abuja, said the regulator is not happy over the way consumers were being haunted  with unsolicited text messages by the telcos, adding that steps have already been taken to address the menace..

    Mrs. Bayi said due to the measures adopted by the NCC in conjunction with the telcos, consumers’ complaints have dropped to about 40,000 per day across the country.

    The regulator blamed states and local government areas in the country for hindering the development of telecoms infrastructures, citing Lagos State as the only state among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja,that has shown understanding on the need to put infrastructure development before aggressive pursuit of internally generated revenue (IGR). The Lagos State government had reduced by about 98 per cent, the cost of installing infrastructure by telcos in the state.

    Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Dr. Okechukwu Itanyi said the Lagos State government has considerably reduced the cost of obtaining right of way (RoW) and the cost of erecting base transmission stations (BTS), while the Abuja has consistently refused to grant approvals to the service providers to expand infrastructure to redefine QoS.

    According to him, aside challenges in the power sector, vandalism, multiple/regulation taxation, access to RoW and stealing of generators at cell sites are factors standing on the way of good QoS..

    Itanyi lamented that it takes an average of six months to get approvals for the establishment of base stations while approvals do not come at all in some states on the excuse that it distort the master plans of the cities.

    He however said the NCC is working with other critical stakeholders in the industry to address the issue, stressing that once they are taken care of, the industry would assume its rightful position as the driver of economic development.

    Participants agreed that telcos and the regulator should collaborate with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to ensure the protection of telecoms infrastructures across the country.

    They also urged the NCC to expand the membership of ICAF to include civil society and advocacy groups while service providers must effect the opt-out and opt-in option in the issue of unslocited text messages.

    Participants also said the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should collaborate with the NCC and the NSCDC in training the youths in the communities on how to install and protect communication infrastructures in their communities.

  • Sanctioning telcos

    Sanctioning telcos

    •Govt should compel them to perform or face sanctions

    POOR quality of service (QoS) is a problem consumers have been enduring for years, in spite of the telecommunications revolution that the country witnessed in 2001 with the advent of the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication in the country. And this is causing the Federal Government a lot of concern.

    It was government’s concern that prompted Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology, to warn at a joint press conference by the ministry and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) of Nigeria, that government will no longer condone poor service delivery to telecoms subscribers: “Henceforth, it is no longer business as usual, and operators must rise up to redress the current poor state of service delivery”, she said.

    Over the years, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the regulatory agency for the telecoms sector, had taken some actions to remedy the situation. For instance, last year, the four major mobile network operators (MNOs), MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat were fined a total of N1.17billion ($7.38million). That the QoS challenges persist suggest that firmer actions needed to be taken against the telecoms providers.

    It is against this background that we welcome the Federal Government’s decision to sanction or prosecute erring ones among them over the matter and sundry other concerns that have been agitating the minds of subscribers. The collaboration between the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and the CPC is pointer to the fact that it will, henceforth, be business unusual on the part of the telcos. It is good that the government seems set to compel them to improve on their operations or face sanctions. The same telcos that cannot cope with normal service delivery have compounded the problem with unsolicited messages as well as telemarketing calls they deliver to subscribers on their networks.

    At the root of the poor QoS is failure of the operators to expand their facilities. And if they are doing this at all, it is not commensurate with the traffic. Yet, about N979billion was to be ploughed into network expansion this year alone.

    The December 31 deadline to them to meet minimum requirements for service delivery, failing which they will not be allowed to embark on further network expansion initiatives is welcome. Indeed, it is surprising that the operators had to be given a deadline on this. Perhaps more shocking is the continued selling of SIM cards by them, when those already on the networks are not having value for their money.

    Of course we are not unmindful of the fact that the telcos have their own peculiar challenges. These include challenges in the area of deploying or maintaining infrastructure, vandalisation of their equipment, multiple taxation, power inadequacy as well as the prohibitive costs of doing business in Nigeria. But the profits posted by the telcos show that they can still do better if only they reckon that subscribers, as customers, are kings.

    The fact is, the telcos are also not helping matters. In some other countries, they cut cost through co-location, for instance; which is sharing of some facilities like masts, etc., instead of hoisting individual masts. The procurement, running and maintenance costs are thus shared among the collaborating operators.

    It’s high time the government rescued telephone subscribers. Its threat to sanction or prosecute erring telcos this time around should not be an empty threat; it should be sincere about it at least to prove that Nigeria is not a place where companies can take Nigerians for granted and get away with it.

    As a matter of fact, that the government itself is wading into the matter suggests that the NCC is not working as it should. Perhaps it is high time the government reorganised the commission itself.

  • Fed Govt to prosecute telcos over poor service quality

    Fed Govt to prosecute telcos over poor service quality

    The Federal Government yesterday threatened to institute legal action against any erring telecom operator in the country in a fresh move to address the vexed issue of poor service delivery(QoS) in the telecoms sector.

    The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Jonhson, who made this known yesterday in Lagos, said the Ministry of Communications Technology, the Consumer Protection of Nigeria (CPN) and the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), are collaborating to sanction or prosecute erring telecoms operators that have been delivering poor quality service to Nigerians.

    She lamented that despite the fact that the ministry has been working relentlessly to provide an enabling environment for the deployment of ICT infrastructure, such as Base Transmission Stations (BTS) and Optic Fibre Cable (OFC), the poor service quality persisted, adding that the pains subscribers go through necessitated the collaboration with the NCC and CPC.

    She said henceforth, subscribers with genuine cases that seek redress, will promptly get reprieve in such cases as usage irregularities, inaccurate billing and opportunities to opt out of unsolicited SMS messages.

    She said subscribers are daily faced with poor network service delivery that makes it impossible for consumers to receive calls. The Minister listed drop calls and lack of sustainability of calls, unsolicited text messages at odd hours, unsolicited telemarketing calls, deceptive broadband speed adverts by some service providers and failure of service delivery without compensation to consumers, as other challenges faced by the subscribers.

    Mrs. Johnson said insufficient customer care lines, unrelenting sales promotion, despite poor network service delivery, non-compensation to consumers for loss of airtime and poor service delivery, and network insecurities characterised by uncontrollable interruptions on networks by unidentifiable third parties, are additional hurdles consumers contend with.

    Operators have in the last few years listed challenges confronting and limiting their ability to deliver effective quality service, such as multiple regulation and taxation, Illegal access denials and site shut-outs, inadequate power supply, lack of incentives to drive service penetration to the remote and rural areas, rent seeking charges for permits and approvals necessary for deployment and security, among other issues, she said.

    But to address some of these obstacles, she said the ministry, in partnership with the Ministry of Works, developed new Right of Way (RoW) guidelines for Federal Government roads to enable operators have unencumbered means of laying OFC which is critical for infrastructure development and quality of service, and to remove arbitrary charges and eradicate multiple taxations that impede telecoms development across the nation.

    Mrs Johnson state Governors and relevant authorities both at the state and federal levels have agreed to address the issue of multiple taxation and adopt measures that will remove arbitrary charges and eradicate multiple taxations to enhance service delivery across the nation.

    She said an agreement has been reached with the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola to remove constraints to the installation, rollout and deployment of BTS and OFC in the state.

    She said Lagos State has agreed to reduce taxes, and levies in Lagos by over 40 per cent and RoW fees were reduced from N3000 to N500, adding that the Federal Government will no longer condone poor service delivery to subscribers.

    It’s no longer shall be business as usual, stressing that operators must rise up to redress the current poor state of quality service delivery

    She said: “We are concerned that the poor quality issues still abound. I am inundated with complaints about quality of service and the seemingly uncaring attitude of our telecoms’ operators to resolve these issues on a regular basis.