The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Subscribers

  • Subscribers hail Glo for Slide ’n’ Bounce show 

    Subscribers hail Glo for Slide ’n’ Bounce show 

    Attendees of the Glo Slide ‘n’  Bounce Concert at the weekend in the Eagle Club, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Lagos, have hailed Globacom “for spreading joy and laughter in the society”.

    Hundreds of subscribers, who attended the event were grateful to Globacom for bringing the initiative to their neighbourhood.

    One of the attendees, Mr. Yusuf Adebayo, a Lagos resident who works as an instructor at Nigeria Civil Defence College of Security Management in Abeokuta, lauded the company for introducing the musical show.

    Adebayo said the concept appealed to all and sundry and it helped “Nigerians to unwind and create time for entertainment”.

    The Glo subscriber since 2003, when it started operations, advised the telecoms firm to take the show to other parts of the country.

    Mr. Christopher Adebiyi, chief operating officer, Water Trade Consultants, Lagos, praised Globacom for coming up with the entertainment package, which,  he said, “will soon bring more Nigerians out of their homes as it gets more interesting and highly  entertaining every week”.

    Ronke Agbaje, a student of the University of Lagos, said: “I don’t think I’ve had this much fun in a long time. It was really a wonderful show and I enjoyed myself. I wish free quality shows like this will come up more often.”

    Another student, Michael Longe of Bowen University, praised Globacom’s efforts at putting a smile on the faces of its subscribers.

    He said: “As far as I’m concerned, Glo is the best company that takes care of and encourages youths the most in Nigeria. Check out its brand ambassadors and its events and reality shows in various cities. Glo is really unlimited.”

    The Surulere Slide ‘n’ Bounce concert was anchored by a comedian, Okey Bakassi, who kept the audience entertained with his spicy and well-timed jokes.

    Glo ambassadors – Sammy Okposo, Di’ja, Bez, PSquare and DJ Tops – performed at the event.

    Special appearances by iconic Glo brand ambassadors like Funke Akindele, Imeh Bishop and Helen Paul added glamour to the show.

  • SIM card revalidation: Telcos lose revenue, subscribers

    •Agents accused of extortion

    When he got to the revalidation centre of his mobile network operator (MNO) last Monday at about 2pm and saw the huge crowd wailing and yelling at the gate, he stood for a while and watched his fellow compatriots who had gathered at the centre, some since 8am.

    The man who simply identified himself as Chukwuma came with his wife. The couple are victims of the greed of their MNO whose unquenchable thirst for subscriber grabbing will make them to circumvent laid down procedures.

    The couple looked at each other in the face and shook their heads. “What kind of country is this? Is this the way these people treat their people in other countries where they operate? Do we have a regulator? What kind of regulator do we have? This is inconceivable. My wife lost her phone three weeks ago, she came to this same office to do welcome back. She was subjected to all manners of registration formalties. She specifically asked the lady that attended to her if she she was good to go and she was assured that her problem had been solved. Three days ago, she received an SMS threatening to deactivate her line. Mine was deactivated two days ago,” he said.

    Frustrated opened his mobile phone and that of his wife, unloaded the SIM cards, broke them and threw the peices at the face of the stern-looking security man at the gate. “To hell with your empty pompousity. You came here and made so much money and started behaving like a lord. Go to hell,” Chukwuma said as he walked away.

    Subscribers of Nigeria’s major carriers are dumping their service providers for rudely deactivating their subscriber identity module SIM cards just as the telcos are daily losing revenue, it has been gathered.

    Worst hit  are the major telcos with huge number of customers on their network.

    An official of one of the telcos that spoke on condition of anonymity said the situation is taking a huge toll on the revenue of the telcos.

    “You know we make money when our customers make calls. So any development that hinders them from making calls automatically translates to our loss of revenue. Remember also that data services, especially mobile data, has become the jewel of the industry. This is because revenues from voice appear to have attained its plateaux.

    “So with millions of customers shut out of the network, it is really huge losses, running into millions of naira every day. The more subscribers you shut out of the network, the more the revenue losses.

    “Short message service (SMS) is another revenue source. Though it costs only N4 currently for domestic users, when computed together, it is plenty of revenue at the end of the year to us. Those who eke their living by selling bulk SMS too are not finding it funny. Then our value added services (VAS) providers too are not left out. They make their money by using out network spread across the country as vehicle to reach their clients,” the telco chief lamented.

    The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) has decried the agonies of its members nation wide.

    Its General Secretary Bayo Omotobora told The Nation that the subscribers that fail to register their SIMs deserve no pity because they are the architects of their misfortune.

    He said the body has issues with the telcos that sent text messages of successful SIM  registration to their customers only for their lines to be deactivated. “That is an area of worry to us. We are looking at some of these cases with a view to taking necessary action,” he said.

    Omotobora, a lawyer, said though what the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) did was right, he said the blanket deactivation order stood logic upside down.

    According to him, considering the huge number of subscribers involved estimated at over 10million, the regulator should have compelled the telcos to do it in phases or in batches. “Since the numbering were given to them in batches of say one million, subscribers affected within that first one million band would have been deactivated. This would have given a warning signal to others. If the situation had been handled this way, I am sure the current pains people are going through would have been minimised,” he said.

    Meanwhile, agents of the telcos have been accused of taking advantage of the situation to extort desperate customers willing to do revalidation.

    In Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, the few available centres are usually filled with irate subscribers, sources have said. Some buses branded in the colours of the telcos allegedly drive into the rural communities to help the people do their revalidation but insist on payment of N200.

    “When they first came, they collected N100 from these poor old women who use the mobile phone to call their children in Lagos, Abuja and even abroad.

    “But when they came to Igbara Odo community last week, they increased it to N200. The youths protested and chased them out of the twon,” a man who identified himself as a civi servant said.

    Agents are also helping the telcos to grab subscribers as they loiter around the revalidation centres to sell new SIM cards to customers. “What they do is they ask you the number of your deactivated line. They repeat the same round of improper biometric data capturing that caused the whole wahala and now pair the new number with the old one. They collect between N200 and N500 depending on your bargaining power,” Olasunkanmi Akomolafe told The Nation in Lagos.

  • SIM deactivation: Anger as subscribers storm telecoms offices

    SIM deactivation: Anger as subscribers storm telecoms offices

    From Agege to Ajangbadi, from Surulere to Shomolu, from Ogba to Ikeja, Lekki to Ajah and finally to Fatai  Atere Way, Ladipo, Lagos, the story is the same—huge crowd of frustrated customers of  all the major carriers in the country-MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat, shouting and wondering why their service providers should subject them to needless stress of doing their subscriber identity module (SIM) registration again.

    A subscriber who spoke with our reporter at Ikeja, complained bitterly that he was shocked that more than 10 years after using his SIM for practically everything possible, he could suddenly be cut off without the slightest courtesy.

    The man who introduced himself simply as Chukwudi, said when he bought his SIM card about 10 years ago, compulsory SIM registration had not been introduced, adding when the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) directed that all SIM cards be registered he complied.

    “I am shocked at the turn of things now. It is a shock that I have been deactivated because when I did it, I got confirmation from my service provider that my SIM had been registered. My mobile phone is my office. I receive and pay money to my clients through my phone. As a businessman, it is the link between my customers and I so for my service provider to just yank me off the network is embarrassing, you can only imagine how devastating the experience has been,” he said.

    Mojeed Adelekan who came along with his wife recalled how the family had to hurriedly abandon their kids at home when they both received text messages from their carriers. According to him, he and his wife have been standing since 8am in order to do their SIM registration update, lamenting that the rude security men and officials of his telco were not helping matters either.

    “I am here because I received a text that they want to block my line. Even a friend of mine called me this morning to tell me that I should call him with another number because his service provide wants to block his line. That is why we both came here together to register our lines.

    “For over three hours now, we have been here and we have not been able to do anything. Now they even said there is no more forms.  I have been using this line for over seven years now.  And back then, I bought the SIM for N35,000.  When I bought it then, there was nothing like SIM registration. But three years later, I registered my line. I even did it thrice and got messages that I had been registered. And now I am very surprised to see the text that says that if I did not register my SIM it would be blocked. And many people have called me to tell me that their lines have been blocked.

    In Ibadan, hundreds of telecom subscribers also besieged the MTN office at the Mobil Area, expressing outrage over the provider’s registration exercise.

    They said the provider had sent text messages to them to visit their centres to complete their mobile registration or lose their mobile lines. The said the manner in which the registration exercise was being carried out by MTN was inhuman.

    Dr Luis Oluwadamilola, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said he was at the MTN office based on the message sent to him to complete his registration.

    Oluwadamilola said he had visited the MTN office four times and had not been able to register his line.

    He said that he ran away the last time he came to the MTN office because he met mobile policemen there and felt there was no reason to endanger his life.

    “I don’t think there is any justification for what we are witnessing here.

    “If it is a directive of the Nigeria Communications Commission, then the telecom providers should have increased the numbers of staff to attend to customers for an easy exercise.

    “I bought this line for N60, 000 the first week the telecom provider began services in Nigeria and I have been recharging the line since then.

    “So, why should they be treating me like a job applicant?

    “Considering my profession and holding up here is a calamitous situation because I don’t know what will happen to my patients while here,’’ he said.

    Similarly, Mr Gbenga Opadotun, the Chairman, Oyo State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), told NAN that the development was disheartening.

    “I got a text message from MTN this morning for registration of my SIM card and on getting here I met over 1,000 people waiting helplessly with no one to attend to them.

    “MTN is a South African company and doing this to Nigerians is heart rending. We are customers who patronise them and pay a stiff price at that.

    “I feel very sad and I will like to urge the appropriate authorities to call MTN to order.

    “ We are their customers and should be treated with respect and dignity,’’ the visibly angry NUJ chairman said.

    NAN reports that all efforts to get a staff of the MTN in Ibadan to comment on the development proved abortive as none of them was willing to speak.

    A source at the NCC headquarters in Abuja, however, told NAN that the commission gave the directive to telecom providers on noticing that some subscribers had not registered their lines.

    The source, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak, said NCC ordered the providers to get their subscribers registered or be fined N200, 000 per unregistered but active SIM card.

    Also, subscribers from Abia State have called on the owners and management of telecommunications operators in the country to establish more re-validation and registration centers in the commercial city.

    Some respondents who spoke to our correspondent when he visited some of the MTN outlets in the commercial hub of Abia State said the call for the establishment of more re-validation centers have become necessary in order to accommodate the overwhelming population of its subscribers and to also reduce the stress they (residents) were passing through.

  • Comedy meets football as Startimes hosts subscribers

    IT was a fusion of music, comedy, and sports, as pay TV service provider, Startimes hosted guests to the kick off of the 2015 league of the German Bundesliga, last Friday.

    The event took place at De Hall event centre, Ikeja, Lagos; in an ambience of fun. According to the management of Startimes’ , it was to celebrate its teeming subscribers, and the always supportive media.

    Welcoming guests to the kickoff match, Israel Bolaji, a representative of Startimes said that the outfit has won the rights to the Bundesliga for the next five years. “You know Bundesliga is the best league in the world; with each stadium having over 40,000 seater capacity, so we are here to celebrate. We are here to watch the game between Bayern Munich, and Hamburger SV. We are also here to celebrate our new sports channels, which include World Football, Star Sports Arena, Star Sports Premium, and Star Sports Live amongst others,” he said.

    Compered by celebrated comedian; Mr. Patrick, aside the music, and multiple course meal, the event featured sports trivia, impromptu two-a-side matches, and a bit of entertainment from professional football jugglers.

    Guests also had the opportunity to view live the Bayern/Hamburger standoff, which kicked off at exactly 7:30pm with the half time scores put at 1:0 in favour of the Munich side. The game ended with Bayern Munich showing off its superiority with a 5:0 score line.

  • Airtel hits 30 million subscribers

    Airtel hits 30 million subscribers

    Telecommunications giant, Airtel, now boasts of no fewer than 30 million subscribers in Nigeria.

    With the milestone, the world’s third largest telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Africa and Asia said it has achieved 20 percent market penetration in the country.

    Making the announcement yesterday in Port Harcourt, Airtel Africa CEO Mr. Christian de Faria, stated that the company’s success was driven mainly by its reliable GSM network and stable internet growth from its residential and business segments.

    Faria said:  “According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the total number of mobile subscribers in the country has risen from 144 million in May 2015 to 146 million in June 2015.

    “In addition, Nigeria’s mobile operators added 2.1 million new subscribers in June 2015 with the subscriptions to fixed networks increasing from 181,625 in May 2015 to 182,643 within the same period.”

    Airtel Nigeria CEO and Managing Director, Segun Ogunsanya, said:  ”This achievement signals a major milestone in Airtel’s Africa growth story.

  • Glo’s reduction in international calls’ tariff excites subscribers

    Glo’s reduction in international calls’ tariff excites subscribers

    The reduction of tariffs on international calls from 39k per second to 20k per second by Nigeria’s total information and communications technology solutions provider, Globacom, has been praised by subscribers who described the gesture as a welcome cost-saving measure.

    Globacom said the reduction is to enhance the communication experience of subscribers, adding that the tariff slash is for calls to the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, China and India while interested subscribers are expected to dial *101*6*1# to enjoy the package.

    A cross section of its subscribers said the 50 per cent reduction was another thoughtful move by the truly Nigerian telco.

    Abeokuta-based Mrs. Aduke Sodunke whose husband relocated to Canada last year praised the reduction, adding that she could now speak for longer time with her family.

    She said: “The tariff reduction has immensely facilitated communication between the rest of the family and daddy, as we increased our daily discussion from once daily to three times. Now, we even pray on the phone first thing in the morning and last thing at night. We are grateful to Glo.”

    Another subscriber, Mrs. Yinka Moses, who has a son at the University of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom also said the reduction has increased his bond with her son as she now speaks with him so often.

    She said: “I used to spend about N1000 for a 25 minute-call but with the slash, the call cost will now come to less than half of that. I am glad that Globacom has again made the cost of telephony more affordable.”

    Benin based Ekhorountomwen Victory said the Glo international call rate is the lowest today in the country, adding that before the reduction, she used to spend a lot of money calling her sisters in America. “With this reduction now, calling overseas is very cheap and I now talk for as long as I want. Glo has done very well for us”.

    For Aguinede Patience, the tariff reduction is great as it made her to regularly call America nowadays, adding that this has greatly added value to her business by expanding her contacts.She said just as Glo pioneered the per second billing system in the country, the telco has blazed the trail for copy-cats to follow.”This is the power of indigenous ownership and patriotism. When these people first came, they said it will require rocket science to get per second billing effective but when Glo came, it shattered the myth completely,” she said.

    In the words of Abuja based Haruna Idris, “Glo has been my preferred line since 2003 and the company has never disappointed me. The reduction in IDD rate is very good. We are enjoying it. keep it coming, Glo!”

    In  Enugu, a 60-year old man, Hyacinth Jiwuaku, is ecstatic that Glo slashed tariffs on international calls, noting “as the head of my family, I have to maintain regular communication with our siblings in the Diaspora where they reside and Glo has helped a lot. About five are based in the UK while three are resident in the United States and one is in China”.

    An Indian based in Lagos, Pradesh Singh, described the reduction as a big boost to communication and a veritable support for the talk more campaign, adding that this had turned Globacom to the network of choice for Indians in Nigeria who now call home fairly more regularly than before the reduction.

  • How government is frustrating subscribers’ telecoms experience

    How government is frustrating subscribers’ telecoms experience

    Whenever you pick your mobile phone and try to make calls or insert your modem in your laptop or personal computers (PCs) to connect to the internet and you are not getting the desired result, you may place the blame at the doorsteps of your mobile network operator (MNO). Many of these problems are, however, not entirely that of the MNOs as the government and its agencies too are responsible for most of the hiccups, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    Madam Tito has had a very busy day in the office. As a banker with one of the first generation banks in the country with office located on the island, she had been so busy attending to customers that  thronged the bank to collect their monthly salary.

    A mother of three, she got a call from her husband at about 4.30 pm who wanted to know if she had heard from the kids. He had obviously tried fruitlessly to speak with them. According to him, each time he called their phone number, he would be told that the number is not assigned to a customer. So, he called their mother if she would be lucky. “After my husband ended the call, I started what became my greatest ordeal. I called my son’s phone number and was politely told: ‘The number you have dialed is incorrect, please check the number and dialed again’. After several attempts, I called my neighbour. Luckily, her phone number went through and was able to speak with the kids who told me the phone was never switched off. It was the network devil,” she said.

    A  spare parts dealer at Iyana Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, who identified himself simply as Chibike, recalled how ‘network devil’ nearly destroyed his marriage. He had called his wife only for him to have heard a male voice. Exasperated, he snapped the call. When they got home, he asked his wife where she has been and who the hell was the man that picked her call. The woman was completely shocked and denied any wrongdoing. It took the intervention of family friends who had experienced similar embarrassing situation to calm frayed nerves.

    The situation is no different when it comes to data services. Customers subscribe to data bundle plans for which they hardly get the value. The MNOs so often hoodwink their subscribers to sign onto data plans which they say ride on 3G technology, while they offer lesser technologies.

    Many subscribers blame their MNOs for dropped calls, poor reception, cross-talking and slow internet speeds, but unknown to them, the government is partly responsible for many of these evils.

    Mobile telephone users have grown phenomenally over the past one decade after the liberalisation of the telecoms sector. With this growth has come affordable smartphones for mobile internet. This, along with dwindling revenue from voice calls have made data a new frontier to be explored to shore up revenue. Faced by these realities, operators have no choice but to expand their capacities.

    Expanding capacity could only happen in one or two ways. One is to make spectrum available. The other is an increase in the number of base transmission stations (BTS) across the country. In providing any of these two, the government has a huge role to play.

    For some time now, the MNOs have stressed the need for the government, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) to make spectrum available to boost their operation.

    MTN Customer Service Executive, Akinwale Goodluck said spectrum is the oxygen of the telecoms industry, adding that its availability will boost service delivery and decrease the noise about low service quality.

    The NCC which auctioned the 2.3gigahertz (GHz) spectrum early last year, has continued to procrastinate over the auctioning of 2.6GHz spectrum which it said would allow licensees to offer retail broadband services to complement the 2.3GHz wholesale services. The 2.3GHz spectrum was won by Bitflux, an indigenous firm.

    Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr, Eugene Juwah first blamed the delay in the auctioning of the spectrum on the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country. After the virus had been contained, new timeline was set only for it to be postponed again. This, sector analyst say portends grave dangers to the realisation of the ambitious targets of the National Broadband Plan unveiled by the Federal Government.

    Juwah said: “(The) 2.6GHz auction had to be suspended because we wanted to make sure that we will be able to deliver the licence (and) actually the frequency slot to their winners. We were not sure we will be able to do that at the time of transition. Now we have done that and we are sure that going forward, we will be able to deliver the slot. So very soon, very soon, you will see a new advert for the 2.6GHz auction.”

    The processes to hand out spectrum are tied up in bureaucracy and government’s incompetence, which is costing Nigerian consumers and the country dearly.

    With the lack of additional spectrum, mobile operators are forced to use the more costly option of rolling out additional BTS. Even then, the government is keeping progress back through failure to grant approval to MNOs.

    According to sources, there are about 25,000 BTS across the country which is said to be a far cry from what is needed in a country with over 170 million population.

    Then the elusive 700megahertz (MHz) digital dividend spectrum which would have come to the telecom sector had the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the agency charged with leading the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in line with the directive of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the government of former President Jonathan Goodluck done the needful. Nigeria has missed June 17 timeline already.

    NBC Director-General, Emeka Mba who had assured Nigerians that the date remained ‘sacrosanct,’ has pushed for an extension of the timeline. On the sideline of a stakeholders’ forum at Eko Hotel, Mba had dismissed fears about the adverse effects of failing to transit in line with ITU’s timeline, saying “the heavens will not fall if we fail to meet the deadline.”

    NCC blames states, local governments

    The NCC has blamed states and local governments in the country for hindering the development of telecoms infrastructures thereby compounding poor service quality issues in the country.

    It lamented that only Lagos State has, over the years, developed and implemented policies that accelerated the growth and the development of the telecoms sector.

    NCC said the state has slashed the cost of right of way (RoW) and the cost of setting up base stations by telecoms service providers, while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has refused to grant approvals to the service providers.

    Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr Okechukwu Itanyi spoke during a meeting with  Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) organised by the regulator in  Abuja. He said poor quality of services (QoS) could be linked to developments such as erratic power supply, vandalism, multiple taxation, access to RoW and stealing of generators at BTS.

    He 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 distorts the master plans of the cities.

    Itanyi however said the NCC is working round the clock with other critical stakeholders in the industry to address the issue, stressing that once they are taken care of, the telecoms industry would assume its rightful position in the development of the economy.

    It is hoped that this blame game will stop soon so that Nigerians can have superior cellular experience.

  • MTN boosts subscribers’ experience with ‘CallerFeel’

    MTN Nigeria has introduced CallerFeel, a service that allows subscribers display personalised messages during calls.

    Speaking on the new product, MTN’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Bayo Adekanmbi, said the service was conceived to give subscribers a platform to express themselves.

    He said: “As Nigeria’s foremost ICT Company, MTN is always looking for creative ways to encourage our subscribers to express themselves. In our quest to put our customers first, we came up with MTN CallerFeel, which is basically a medium of expression for our teeming consumers.

    “CallerFeel can be deployed for different personal purposes including advertising, status messaging, mood description, as well as special messages to specific callers.

    Users can subscribe and unsubscribe from the service via SMS, App or WEB. Subscribers can access the CallerFeel service via the Callertunez App or Music + App.

    To subscribe to the MTN CallerFeel service, subscribers can opt in by sending the keyword: ‘REG’ to a short code ‘50016’ or log onto the CallerFeel web page on MTN website, enter your MSISDN and select the option to subscribe to this service.

     

  • Glo’s commitment to subscribers’ empowerment lauded

    Glo’s commitment to subscribers’ empowerment lauded

    Mobile network operator,  Globacom, has been lauded for its commitment to subscribers’ empowerment as well as pursuit of high quality of service as justification.

    This was stated while the company was being honoured as Nigeria’s best telecoms service provider.

    Daily Independent Newspaper announced Glo as Telecoms Network of the Year,  2014, at an A- class event held at Nicon Luxury Hotels, Abuja.

    Managing Director of the newspapers, Mr Ted Iwere, declared that in addition to world-class customer service and high quality of service of the Glo network, the company’s continuous ”investment in infrastructure and commitment to the passions of the people have been the cornerstone of Globacom’s policies with millions of direct and indirect beneficiaries”.

    Iwere said from inception, Globacom came all out with a strong determination to shake the industry for good and this it did with its innovative products that saw many Nigerians rushing to the network.

    He said: “It was not surprising that just about eight months into its operation, Glo Mobile,  Globacom’s cellular arm, made history as the fastest growing network in Africa by reaching an unprecedented one million subscribers mark and covering over 87 towns in Nigeria.”

    ”Twelve years down the line, Globacom has become a truly national carrier that every Nigerian can be proud of with over 35 million subscribers on its network.

    “Besides, Globacom has kept the Nigerian flag flying across Africa and it is today considered as the country’s biggest corporate export with footprints in Ghana, Benin Republic, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire and The Gambia,” he added.

  • MultiChoice Vs subscribers

    MultiChoice Vs subscribers

    The April 1 hike of DStv tariffs underscores the imperatives of sound consumer protection

    The 10 per cent increase in the tariff of MultiChoice Africa Digital Satellite Television (DStv) has caused a subscriber distemper, with many of the consumers launching a campaign for regulators to hold the pay-tv platform on the leash.

    But apart from a reiteration of its “determination” to do its regulation job, mum has been the word from the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the regulator of the market, despite admittance that it has received a torrent of complaints from MultiChoice’s DStv subscribers. Yet, it is imperative consumers be protected, just to ensure that they get a good deal from DStv and other pay-tv players.

    Caroline Oghuma, MultiChoice Nigeria’s public relations manager said the tariff hike was overdue, at least in the Nigerian market. “MultiChoice implements annual subscription price increase in all its operating countries,” she said, “however, a price increase was not implemented in Nigeria last year.”

    But that only fuelled a distemper among its subscribers, with many threatening to drop the platform for others. Others launched a social media campaign, rallying subscribers to boycott MultiChoice, until the new rates are rescinded. Yet, others accuse NBC of a lackadaisical approach to consumer protection, in view of MultiChoice’s alleged progressive sharp price practices, bordering on alleged monopoly.

    Structurally, MultiChoice’s DStv is not a monopoly. It has other competitors in its premium market; and also throws a market dog, in Gotv, to compete in the low end of the market segment, apparently to protect its premium brand.

    Operationally however, it has a towering dominance of its preferred premium segment.  Its content niche borders on the monopoly, such that not a few of its subscribers accuse it of arbitrarily hiking tariffs.

    Indeed, the only time its tariff came down was when the defunct Hitv, as a market entry strategy, got the English Premiership franchise, a niche in sporting content, which all players in the market covet. But since Hitv’s demise, following MultiChoice’s regain of the English Premiership franchise, the firm has been virtually untouchable. This latest tariff hike, subscribers allege, is the latest indication of its price whims — and even NBC, its customers allege, seems unable to call it to order.

    MultiChoice, which has a subscriber base of no less than two million in Nigeria, may well have been hampered by the recent devaluation of the Naira. In fairness to it too, the increased tariffs cut across all its markets, in countries across West, Central, East and Southern Africa. So, a charge of a formal monopoly cannot be proved.

    But not so, the charge of an operational monopoly, leveraging heavily on its rich content, made possible by its comparatively huger chest of capital. Take this subscriber family as example. Latching on to MultiChoice campaign for subscribers to pay early to beat the new charges set to take off on April 1, the family paid the old rate on March 31. The MultiChoice agents collected the rate but later sent a text to the payer that  since banks closed early because of the elections, and it had not paid the money into the bank account, the payer should come back to make up for the new rate, since the money would enter the MultiChoice account on April 1!

    These are the sort of arbitrary behaviours that make consumers complain about MultiChoice and its pay-tv platforms of DStv and Gotv. That is why NBC should take a special interest in these complaints.

    At the end of the day, MultiChoice is no charity organisation. It has a right to recoup its investment at a profit. At the same time however, subscribers too have a right to quality at the best price. That is where NBC must come in — and ensure fairness on both sides of the transaction.