The Nation Newspaper

Tag: telcos

  • Telcos seek cut of MTN’s fine

    Telcos seek cut of MTN’s fine

    •NCC: telcos must obey rules

    Telecommunications firms have  urged the Federal Government to further reduce the fine imposed on MTN by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over subscriber identity module (SIM) registration regulation infraction.

    MTN was fined N1.4trillion for keeping millions of pre-registered and poorly registered SIMs on its network.  The Presidency slashed it to N780billion.

    Speaking at a reception for Communications Technology Minister Adebayo Shittu, Associaiton of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) President Lanre Ajayi said the fine could kill business, adding that ATCON campaigned vigorously for SIM card registration in the public interest.

    The NCC has urged firms to subject themselves to the country’s rules. Its Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Prof Umar Dambatta said telcos must strive for greater discipline and respect for extant rules, guidelines and regulations.

    He said: “The Commission urges bodies such as ATCON, ALTON (Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria) and others in the industry to strive for greater discipline and respect for rules, guidelines and regulations among members as compliance to the Commission’s guidelines and regulations will lead to a more coordinated regulatory environment.”

    Represented at the event by Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, he said the Commission will always act responsibly, impartially, transparently and independently in the discharge of its statutory functions and for the common good of the consumers and the service providers.

    But ATCON said when it started the campaign for the introduction of SIM card registration, it was fiercely resisted by many, adding that the scheme would not have seen the light of day were it not for the persistence of its members.

    Ajayi said the intention of ATCON was neither to use it to raise funds for government; be converted to a tool to kill telecoms operators nor to create a tool that can be used to destroy the industry.

    He said: “Our singular intention was to protect the environment where we do business; we have watched with regret the poor handling of the issue; the politicisation, remarks based on emotion and not on the objectives of the fine. While some see it as an opportunity to make quick money by offering all sorts of services-legal, public relations, lobbyist, some politicians and public officers see it as an opportunity to show off the importance of their offices without an iota of consideration for the purpose of the fine and the impact its mishandling can have on the telecoms industry and the national economy at large.

    “We are of the opinion that MTN has suffered sufficient losses: loss of reputation, loss of market value, loss of revenue and have learnt their lessons. We plead that the fine should be reviewed downward to a figure not more than their profit for one year. This should be enough to serve as deterrent for future breaches while ensuring that they are kept in business to provide Nigerians services that we badly need at this stage of our development.

    “Our plea for leniency is based on our conviction that the breach was not done with a criminal intention to injure our national security but by sheer act of negligence. Our approach would have been different if otherwise proven.”

    Ajayi said ATCON does not tolerate unprofessional conduct and disrespect for rules, adding that as a demonstration of this, the association has launched its code of ethics with determination to sanction erring members.

    “Equally, we have no objection to the use of fine as a tool to ensure compliance to regulations but when an unanticipated scenario emanates where fines computes to humongous amount that is capable of inflicting damages on the industry and the country, it is only wise that the nation acts in self interest by seeking a review to ensure that the purpose of the fine, which is to act as deterrent to breaches of rules is served while an inadvertent self-infliction is avoided.”

     

  • Telcos, GSMA, others reject electronic tax bill

    The group representing mobile operators globally, the Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA), the umbrella body of mobile operators, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), have jointly  rejected the Bill for the Establishment of a Tax on Electronic Communication Services in Nigeria currently before the National Assembly.

    The bill  is seeking to establish a nine per cent Communication Service Tax to be levied on charges payable by a user of an electronic communication service such as short message service (SMS), voice calls, multimedia service (MMS), and  data usage supplied by service providers in the country.

    They stakeholders warned that if introduced, such tax will result in an increase in prices for consumers, have adverse impacts on the adoption of mobile services and industry investment, and be counter-productive to the longer term national digital strategy objectives set by the Federal Government. It will also increase affordability barriers to the uptake of mobile technology in the country.

    A letter dated March 30, 2016 addressed to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and her counterpart in the Communications Technology, Mr Adebayo Shittu, the stakeholders said the socio-economic impact of mobile penetration is now widely recognised, adding that a World Bank research noted that a 10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration in low to middle income countries leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

  • More sanctions await telcos, says Minister

    More sanctions await telcos, says Minister

    The Minister of Communications Technology, Mr Adebayo Shittu, yesterday said the Federal Government would impose severe sanctions on telecos und to have defrauded Nigerians through poor quality of service, incessant dropped calls and other unauthorised charges.

    He accused the operators of under-declaring revenue and profit, saying the Federal Government would henceforth take advantage of new technology to verify the amount of revenue generated by operators via government regulatory and revenue agencies such as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    Speaking during his maiden meeting with carriers in Abuja, Shittu said his office has been inundated with complaints, petitions and allegations of fraudulent and unauthorised charges by the global system for mobile communications (GSM) service providers in the country.

    He said he had to intervene following reports that “these unauthorised charges have been so prevalent.

    “This action must stop immediately or else severe sanctions will be imposed on any operators that violate this directive.”

    Those at the meeting were MTN Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ferdi Moolman, and Mrs Amina Oyegbola, Airtel Director of Legal Services, Mr Shola Adeyemi, while Etisalat was represented by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mattew Wilsher and Malam Ibrahim Dikko. Globacom was not represented at the meeting which was also attended by the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta.

    The minister listed the complaints against the telecommunication operators as extortion of subscribers, incessant drop calls, poor quality of service, dead or salient calls and cross talk, data bundle roll over and call tariff plans.

    Others are deficiency in data penetration, rollout of 4G/LTE network, under-declared revenue and profit, disengagement of Nigerian tax paying employees through out-sourcing to foreign companies and discrepancy and discriminination against Nigerian employeees by telecom operators.

    Shittu said: “There is a need for all network operators to consider rolling over the monthly unused data by the subscribers to the new month. No operator should wipe out the unused data of any subscriber going  forward.”

    He added all tariff plans introduced by the telecom operators need to be properly investigated to ensure that there are no hidden charges.

  • Telcos: Ambush Business Model (ABM)

    Telephony in Nigeria has had a chequered history and up till this moment, telephone business around here remains a conundrum that has grown impertinently into full-blown, legitimised subterfuge. Forgive Hardball’s uncharacteristically winding introduction, but telecoms companies (that is euphemism for GSM firms) in Nigeria have mastered a new and unwritten business model that thrives on trickery and ambush.

    Let us start from the fact that Nigeria is probably the only country in the world that has completely phased out landlines, thus the entire population numbering about 170 million people depend on the expensive GSM (Global System of Mobile Communications) for voice, messages and all forms of exchange. So what we have is one huge oligopolistic cartel that offers extremely expensive services. And we live with it and boast about our success story in a liberalised telecommunications age.

    But what is our reality? Have you seen the ribald spectacle of a Nigerian desperately trying to make a call? The kind who holds his cell phone to his lips as if it were a chocolate bar? He takes turns to yell into the phone before he places it to his ears to try to listen. In between talking into the phone and pasting it to his ears, the call drops. Unknown to him, he returns the phone to his mouth yelling at the top of his voice; breaking out in sweat.

    It has become impossible to make nary a one-minute call without losing connection; and if one manages to succeed with it, half of the period the connection is poor, perhaps deliberately so (Hardball would want to wager) so most times, subscribers would stay two minutes on the line for what would have been a 30 seconds’ conversation.

    But these are yet benign tactics. Some of the networks choose the company they keep and do business with. One or two networks never seem to interconnect and when perchance the subscriber manages to bridge the gap between them he pays premium. For such antagonistic networks, the story, when you dial, is that “the subscriber is not available”. But how could that be? Even when the subscriber you call is the phone on your left hand…

    If you think these guys are getting away with daylight heist, wait for this: we are now in the age of unsolicited messages and even phone calls. Disruptive messages throng your phones in their dozens daily. If you think you have mastered the art of ignoring and indeed quickly deleting them, you are wrong. Indeed, your are suckered. Some of the networks and their collaborators would sign you on to crazy deals you know nothing about and go ahead to deduct your account.

    And to get the goat in you; as if they are watching you, when you set about doing the things you love most, a call comes in… you pick it… it is a recorded message from your beguiling network… and you could lose your mind if you don’t check yourself.

    Today, all the networks are making us do all over again, a biometric register we had done about twice before. And they set up a tortuous process that could mess up all of two or three days of your life. And nobody seems to care.

  • NCC moves against unsolicited SMS by telcos

    NCC moves against unsolicited SMS by telcos

    Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it is taking steps to develop a regulation that will deal with unsolicited text messages and illegal data charges by telcos.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Dambatta,  spoke in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State during the 1st Ebonyi Youth Summit on refocusing talented youth for sustainable national development in training and capacity building through ICT revolution.

    “The commission is taking steps to develop a regulation that will deal with unsolicited text messages and illegal data charges,” he said.

    He said the regulator has been proactive and efficient in mediating between telcos and the service consumers.

    Represented at the training by a Director in the Commission, Austin Chucks Odoh,  Prof Dambatta urged  telecom service consumers to take advantage of the toll-free number provided by the commission to lodge their complaints.

  • Telcos must comply with standards, says LASIMRA chief

    The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) yesterday said it will not allow telcos and financial institutions to breach standards in the provision of telecoms infrastructure in the state.

    Its General Manager, Mr. Babajide Odekunle, who spoke in Lagos said the agency is committed to ensuring adherence to regulation by telcos and financial institutions in the provision of communication infrastructure and utility providers in the state.

    Odekunle said the era of impunity by service providers in the areas of the use of substandard materials in erecting communication infrastructure and delay in completion of approved works on major roads by contractors is gone.

    He said the agency will hold a meeting with all stakeholders in the industry before the end of the year with a viewing to moving the state forward, adding that an enumeration exercise of all communications infrastructure will also be undertaken.

    In identifying with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration to make governance responsive, the agency gave out 09081154716 and 08162667719 as dedicated lines for the public to reach out for enquiries and report any attempt to lay cables on / under any road in the state.

  • 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.

  • CBN reviews mobile money rule to accommodate telcos

    CBN reviews mobile money rule to accommodate telcos

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is reviewing its tight regulatory policy on mobile money to make  telcos play more role in the adoption of the initiative which aims at driving financial inclusion across the country.

    Under CBN’s rule, the telcos’roles have been reduced to nothing as the transactions merely passed through their ubiquitous network of infrastructure. But the apex bank said it had realised that the telcos have huge infrastructure spread across the country and could actually provide the enabling infrastructure for mobile money agents to work effectively.

    Its Deputy Director, Banking and Payment System Department, Mr. Musa Itokpa Jimoh, said: “The telcos have outlets and so they can come in as super-agents, which means, we can leverage on some of these infrastructure to provide mobile financial services and that is basically what we are doing. So, all outlets of the telecommunication companies are going to act as agents.”

    According to him, with this review, which allows for the participation of the telecommunication companies, mobile money will get a huge boost.

    Already, three telcos have applied for super agent to drive the mobile money scheme, which started over three years ago to provide basic financial services to Nigerians without bank accounts, as well as to help drive financial inclusion.

    Three years on, adoption has been very slow in a country that boasts of over 146 million active mobile subscribers. Several surveys had attributed the slow pace of adopting the mobile money services to the low public awareness. Another challenge had been low number of agents as well as inadequate infrastructure, according to IT Pulse.

    The telecom companies have the platform and widespread network with which mobile money transaction can best thrive, but the apex declined to license them, saying they don’t want a clash of interest between banks and telecommunications operators.

    According to CBN, a  research was conducted that revealed the telecoms operators have more subscribers and wider network area for the penetration of mobile money, but the banks have the financial strength to drive the process much better.CBN encouraged telecommunications operators to partner with licensed banks and other financial and non-financial institutions in driving the scheme, since they have the platform on which mobile money transactions will thrive.

     

  • Cyber attacks imminent on telcos, banks, corporations

    Cyber attacks imminent on telcos, banks, corporations

    Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) has raised the red flag for banks, telcos, other financial institutions and large corporations over renewed cyber attacks on their servers by crooks as the year runs to a close and desire to make quick cash increases.

    Its Abuja Chapter President, Opeyemi Onifade, who spoke to reporters as part of preparation for ISACA’s 10th anniversary and yearly conference in Abuja, warned that as a member of the global society, Nigeria cannot be insulated from the opportunities and threats of globalisation.

    To overcome cyber-attacks, he warned, the banks would need to strengthen their cyber resilience through implementation and adoption of process-oriented practices, technology and standards, and engagement of right skills and competencies.

    “We need to understand that we cannot succeed by accident. The cyberspace is now recognised as the fifth domain of warfare in addition to land, air, sea and space. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, our cyberspace domain is still a neglected and unprotected territory. Yet, we depend so much on mobile telecommunications, electronic banking and electronic commerce for our socio-economic survival,” he said.

    Onifade said the internet has become imperative to address Nigeria’s collective capacity to respond to the inevitability of cyber threats, especially Advanced Persistent Threats (APT).

    “The purpose of the majority of APTs is to extract information from systems-this could be critical research, enterprise intellectual property or government information, among other things. Talking about the shift in the motive for hacking (that is compromising the security profile of information systems), you will find that there is an evolution in the motivation for attacks.

    “Motivation for attacks can be explained as being attacked because you are on the internet and you have vulnerabilities. Or because you are on the internet and you have information of value or because of who you are, what you do or the value of your intellectual property (IP). These would include state-sponsored attacks and corporate espionage. According to recent research, Cyber security is a top global concern as 82 per cent of enterprises will experience a cyber-incident in 2015,” he said.

    To him, the government should declare an emergency in the cyber security education domain of the country in order to promote cyber security expertise and create a formidable “army” that would ensure effective national cyber defense.

     

  • SIM deactivation: NCC, telcos in blame game

    SIM deactivation: NCC, telcos in blame game

    The major network operators (MNOs) have accused the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) of not giving them enough time to tidy up the cleaning of their data before its seven-day ultimatum to deactivate all improperly registered subscriber identity modules (SMSs) on their network.

    An official of one of the operators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the travails of the subscribers would have been avoided had the regulator given them enough time to do the data cleaning.

    “The deadline given by the NCC is too short considering the total number of customers affected in the data correction. So, it is, indeed, impossible to clean over the 10,000 SIMs within the timeline of the regulator. With the deactivation of these lines, we are losing money because if our customers do not make calls, we don’t make money.

    “So, for us as operators, we are not happy about the development but there is nothing we can do because the NCC is the regulator and whatever step it is taking it says it is in the best interest of the country, we have no choice but to obey it. But quite frankly, we are not happy and our sympathy goes to our customers that are affected by this unfortunate development,” the source said.

    The exercise that started about two weeks ago has seen some 10.7 million lines deactivated across all the network of the MNOs.

    In a telephone interview, Director, Public Affairs, at NCC, Tony Ojobo, had blamed the operators for bringing pains to their customers. He recalled that the issue had been on since 2012, adding that the MNOs had kept vacillating.

    According to him, another reminder was sent to the MNOs last year September, adding that they turned deaf ears to the NCC. He said it was baseless blaming the regulator for their intransigence, arguing that they had more than enough time to correct the SIMs shipped back to them after they were handed over to the NCC and discovered to be defective.

    He said the commission had returned a total of 18.6 million SIM data to MTN; 7.4 million to Airtel; 2.2 million to Globacom and 10.4 million to Etisalat for corrections.

    He said these SIMs had one challenge or the other, including some that were pre-registered and others without the required biometric information. “I think the bulk of the blame would stop on the table of the operators. They failed to do what they were supposed to have done earlier. The commission sent the list of improperly registered subscribers to the operators in September last year.

    He said: “In October 2014, the commission wrote to the service providers indicating that they had still not responded to the communication in terms of those data that were not duly captured and requested that they should do that immediately and get back to the commission. This continued until the meeting of August 4, 2015. The operators were expected to have long before now sent SMS to affected subscribers requesting them to go and get their data corrected or risk deactivation but nothing was done until now.” According to Ojobo, who said any erring operator that still harbours defective SIMs on their network and if detected would pay N200,000 per SIM, according to the stipulated law, noted that deactivation does not mean total withdrawal of the lines, but that it simply indicates that the registration of those particular lines were improper or the data required for a particular information was not captured.