Over thirty days after the directive from the Nigerian Commu-nication Commission [NCC] to telecommunication companies to allow subscribers the freedom of receiving messages and calls they deem fit, subscribers are still being bothered with unsought-for calls and messages.
Though most of the major telecommunication providers like MTN, Nigeria, GLOBACOM, Etisalat, and Airtel have introduced a new feature ‘Do Not Disturb'[DND] that is supposed to allow their subscribers decide whether to receive Short Message Service [SMS] on their mobile phone, it does not, however, give the customer the opportunity of deciding which calls or messages he can receive from the service provider.
What this implies is that the DND service is only applicable to third party services like religious bodies, banks, etcetera, while irrelevant and unsolicited SMS messages/calls from the telecommunication companies themselves will be delivered.
Only last week, 65-year-old Chief YinkaAdetola said she sprained her ankle as she was rushing to pick her phone only to realise the call was an irritant one from MTN.
For Mrs. IfeomaAneke, she rammed into another car as she was driving and rummaging in her bag with another hand as her phone rang persistently. “You can imagine my annoyance and disgust when I realised it was only a call from my network provider.”
Revealing his disappointment, Cyril Onwuchekwa, said he had thought that all unsolicited SMS and calls would have stopped after July 1st, like the sector’s regulatory body, NCC, had indicated.
Some of the aggrieved subscribers who spoke to Consumer Watch, like Samuel Adegbite, said he sent his complaints to NCC but the terse reply was that he should activate 2442.
“What NCC needs to understand is that 2442 does not stop unsolicited SMS from MTN, GLO, Etisalat and Airtel but only third party messages such as bulk SMS and VAS,” complainedAdegbite.
“The messages I find most disturbing is the ones that I get from 55505 from Etisalat. It reads in part ‘Christino Ronaldo is waiting for you. Reply yes to get every information about Christino Ronaldo,’”related Grace Itoro.
Continuing, Itoro said that the annoying messages she is also receiving daily from MTN and Airtel is so distracting that NCC should please do something about it.
Only recently, GLOBACOM said in a press statement that its subscribers now have the ability to control unsolicited text messages and calls with DND.
The company urged customers to take advantage of the service by texting ‘help’ to 2442 to receive a list of fields from which they want to receive or block unsolicited messages.
It said that subscribers who wish to receive information on banking, insurance and financial products can send 1 to 2442, while subscribers are required to send 2 to 2442 to receive information on real estate. To receive information on education, subscribers only need to send 3 to the short code 2442.
Subscribers should, however, go through the details of the new service before deciding on which one to settle for. It should be noted that the new service, DND, has two main features which are partially blocked mode and full blocked mode. The latterallows customers to completely block their lines from receiving all kinds or promotional messages through SMS.This automatically blocks all bulk SMS messages from getting to your line, it may also include bank SMS alerts and/or related messages. The other mode which is the partially blocked mode allows customers the flexibility of filtering promotional messages they wish to receive by unchecking their areas of interest ranging from banking/insurance, health, education, real estate, sports, religion, automobile, entertainment, tourism, etcetera. Any category selected is blocked, meaning if you wish to receive from any category, you have to uncheck it manually from the service configuration panel.
Meanwhile, after activating 2442, if you want to check if your line is active on DND, text the word STATUS to 2442 and wait for a response.
To deactivate, text the word ALLOW to 2442 and you will be allowed to receive all your messages normally again. To be very sure you have been unsubscribed, SMS the word STATUS again to 2442 and feedback will be given to you. If after these steps, you are still unable to receive some messages, then you will need to unsubscribe manually from the website of your service provider.
It will be recalled that the NCC gave the network operators up till June 30th 2016 to stop sending unsolicited SMS or calls to subscribers or face sanctions from the regulatory body.
A document, dated April 19, which emanated from the legal and regulatory department of the government regulatory agency and directed to network operators showed that the telephone firms risk N5million fine if they fail to comply and further N500,000 per day for as long as the contravention persists.
As to be expected, there was jubilation from subscribers that the NCC was finally taking a proactive step, after years of complaints from subscribers. But it seems that despite NCC directives on unsolicited SMS, operators are still indulging in the practice of sending these messages at odd hours, thereby infringing on the rights of individuals for a decent rest.
The commission said it had been inundated with complaints from subscribers about the menace of unsolicited SMS and calls from mobile newtowrk operators (MNOs) which had impacted negatively on consumer quality experience in the telecommunications industry.