Tag Archives: glo

NCC releases short code to opt out of unsolicited messages from Telcos.

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The Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, on Thursday advised consumers to take advantage of the 2442 short code to choose the type of messages they want to receive from telecoms operators.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Umar Danbatta, gave the advice at the 79th Telecom Consumers Parliament help in Abuja.

He said that the parliament, with its theme: Implementation of the `Do not Disturb’ (DND): the journey so far,’ was aimed at sensitising the public to the policy.

Mr. Danbatta said that the short code would go a long way to give consumers the right to choose the messages they wanted to receive.

According to him, following the barrage of complaints on the menace of unsolicited message, the commission swayed into action by mandating the activation of 2442 short code.

“The code will enable consumers to control the type of messages they receive.

“I am glad that it has come into effect and I urge all consumers to take advantage of this new regime by sending “stop to 2442’’ to avoid unsolicited messages, he said.

Mr. Danbatta said the commission was aware that for the initiative to succeed, there was need for massive public enlightenment by both regulator and the operating companies.

“It is on this regard that the theme of today’s parliament becomes relevant.

“The objective is to place the issue on the front burner of our discourse until unsolicited messages become a thing of the past,” he said.

Mr. Danbatta said the issue of consumer’s protection was very paramount to the commission, adding that consumers were kings in the market place.

To uphold the principle, he said the commission had put in place various programmes to inform, educate and protect the consumers of telecom service.

Presenting a paper on the theme, Ayoola Oke, a telecom consultant with NCC, called on operators to ensure full compliance with the 2442 short code.

Mr. Oke said that one major challenge of the policy was lack of awareness, hence the need for both the regulators and the telecom operators to be involved in massive publicity.

He called for effective complaint management by the operators and network management to block spam and screen out malicious mails.

Responding to questions on outright ban on unsolicited messages, Amina Shehu, Head of Legal, NCC, said complete ban was not possible because of e-commerce system.

The Nigeria Data Pricing War – by Yemi Ade-John

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The overriding principle should be that lower prices are good for the consumer and if their is underpricing or cartel price fixing there are methods for punishing that behavior all the while ensuring that costs of fines for example are not passed on to consumers.

All today’s big operators were once small operators and they did fine. Etisalat came in last and is doing fine and we haven’t heard that NITEL is complaining

How many operators make up a monopoly or oligopoly and how many more do we need to get this vaunted ‘perfect’ market?

Is the CDMA platform efficient or more beneficial,why is it being protected and who says they won’t engage in anticompetitive practices themselves just like the big GSM ones have E been doing presumably for years unchecked till now? So are we now being encouraged to migrate to CDMA operators with their limited geographical spread?

What heaven dictated business model did the regulator use to determine that under-pricing was taking place?

I have never heard of a regulator anywhere dictating prices to go upwards on its own initiative for over 80% of the consumer base in an industry;its normally the other way with the operators persuading a reluctant regulator on the need to be allowed to effect increases-in areal democratic society that this sort of regulatory behavior would result in heads rolling!

NCC to Sanction Airtel, Globacom, MTN, 10 Others Over Unsolicited Telemarketing

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday said it would sanction 13 telecommunications operators for failing to comply with the ‘2442 Do Not Disturb (DND)’ directive on unsolicited telemarketing. According to a statement signed by the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo, the directive was issued on April 20, 2016.

Ojobo said that the 13 operators included: Airtel Network Ltd., MTN Nigeria, Globacom Nigeria, Smile Communication, Visafone Communications, Ntel, Etisalat, Multi-Links, Starcomms, Danjay Telecoms, Gamjitel Ltd., Megatech Engineering Ltd. and Gicell Wireless.

According to him, the service providers have been given another one-week ultimatum, from Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, to remedy the situation or face the sanctions enshrined in the directive.

“Worried by the non-compliance by the operators, occasioned by a deluge of complaints by subscribers across Nigeria, the NCC inaugurated an eight-member committee to look into the matter.

“After several meetings, including those it held with the network providers, it became necessary to issue the latest ultimatum to redress the menace of incessant unsolicited text messages and phone calls for telemarketing via the various networks,’’ he said.

Ojobo said the commission had written to the providers on whose networks it had received series of complaints from subscribers regarding the efficacy of DND.

He said the phrase ‘Network-Generated SMS’ referred to in Part (d) of the directive shall be taken to mean messages and calls, with respect to only information on emergencies.

According to him, the information on emergencies, include: national security, fire, notifications on network maintenance programmes down times and notification regarding subscribers’ bundle usage and service renewals.

“Other text messages and voice calls informing subscribers of new products and service offerings are not regarded as ‘Network-Generated’ and, therefore, regarded as “unsolicited marketing messages’’.

“NCC has therefore, asked these network providers to ensure that information on the Do Not Disturb service should be disseminated after every revenue-generating activity via the End of Call Notification (EOCN).

“For the period not less than 45 days, within the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, from the receipt of the latest letter on the subject.

“The operators are also admonished to deploy this information through all their channels of communications, including websites, social media platforms, billboards, flash messages, text messages, Interactive Voice Response platform, radio jingles, newspapers advertisements and television commercials,’’ he said.

The director said that this notice served as a pre-enforcement notice, adding that failure to comply with it would attract appropriate sanctions.

He said the menace of unsolicited text messages had been a nightmare to subscribers. Ojobo said that the commission could no longer accept further excuses from network providers.

Nigeria’s Mike Adenuga Receives Ghana’s Highest Honour

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Dr Mike Adenuga, Chairman of Globacom was on Saturday conferred with Ghana’s highest honour “The Companion of the Star of Ghana (CSG)” .
The conferment ceremony took place at the Accra International Conference Centre on Saturday, 29 October. Addressing Adenuga during the conferment, President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama said the Award “is in recognition of your unique and outstanding contribution to business enterprise both in Ghana and the continent of Africa at large”.

President Mahama said “through your creative business exertions, you have touched many lives in Ghana. You have provided employment for our teeming youth, artists, footballers and many more. I am particularly proud of you. This award is our way of saying a simple THANK YOU”.

NCC Fines Glo, MTN N34m For Non-Compliance To Number Portability

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has fined MTN Nigeria and Globacom Ltd (Glo) a total of N34 million for breach of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) business rules and regulations.

The regulatory body made this known in its “2015 Q4 Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Reports’’ obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

In the report, NCC noted that of the N34 million sanction for number porting breach, Globacom was fined N22 million, while MTN was fined N12 million.

NAN recalls that in the “2015 Q3 Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Reports’’, NCC had resolved to monitor and sanction violations with MNP process time obligations said “to address the increasing cases of port request rejections’’.

The commission said that series of compliance checks were carried out regarding timer violations by Donor operators with respect to “validation and deactivation responses’’ which had timelines of 2 hours and 1 hour respectively.

According to the Q3 report, there is a timer deactivation violation by MTN, regarding a Corporate Port request of over 109 lines belonging to Nigerian Breweries Plc.

“The company had initiated a corporate port out request from MTN to Glo via lead Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN): 07036735494 on Aug. 11, 2015 at 1.20 p.m. but was partially completed as at 11.22 a.m. on Aug. 14, 2015.

“As a result, these subscribers were not able to receive calls from MTN subscribers.

“In the same vein, a timer validation violation by MTN regarding four individual Port requests from MSISDNs: 08139382308, 08143810152, 08135485305 and 08162108093.

“MTN breached the allowable two hours for validation of four port requests from the NPC, as stated in the MNP Business Rules,’’ it said.

Credit: NAN

P-Square Gets Brand New Whips As Proud Brand Ambassadors

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The double edged thriller, The Okoye brothers, just returned from a successful tour and now they have a brand new range rover and an amazing G- Wagon added to their garages.

Globacom limited presented the cars to them as they probably renewed their brand ambassador deal.

They shared their blessing on Instagram… see posts below:

https://instagram.com/p/8kyu7LSsDq/?taken-by=peterpsquare

https://instagram.com/p/8kz9tNSsFn/?taken-by=peterpsquare

Wizkid Signs N100m Endorsement Deal With Glo, Dumps MTN

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Nigerian top act, Wizkid has officially ported to telecommunications company; Globacom, for a brand endorsement deal worth over N100m, dumping it’s rival company, MTN where he was formerly a brand ambassador.

Screenshot_2015-06-24-09-56-33-1

Wizkid, who will be 25 in a couple of weeks, confirmed that he is now a Glo Ambassador by taking to Instagram to share photos of the new brand.

See another photo after the cut…

Screenshot_2015-06-24-09-56-26-1

Multiple Taxes: Telcos Threaten To Shut Down Networks

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Nigerian telecom operators have said that the over N10 billion annual multiple taxations levied them by local, state and federal governments and their agencies was threatening the survival of the telecom sector as investors may be pushed to divest from the sector which may in turn aggravate the quality on networks.
About eight states and their local governments have issued notices to telecom operators to pay taxes and levies exceeding N10 billion annually.
Speaking under the aegis of the Industry Working Group (IWG) on multiple taxations in the telecom industry, the operators and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday in Lagos said the survival of the industry now depends on all stakeholders, prevailing on the states and local governments to stop insisting on collecting taxes and levies on operators’ infrastructures such as base stations and masts.
The chairman of the IWG and Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management at NCC, Mr. Okey Itanyi, said that multiple taxation portends a grave danger for the telecoms industry if not quickly addressed. “The country may lose the gains and confidence achieved so far in the last couple of years.
The industry still requires investments in network infrastructure to ensure full access across the country, and to guarantee good and acceptable quality of service which has become a major challenge,” he said.
According to the vice chairman of the IWG, Mrs. Oyeronke Oyetunde, multiple taxation has been impeding telecoms growth in recent past.
She explained that a situation where a local government authority is demanding about N10million on each site from telecoms operators for building base stations in their vicinity, apart from other levies the operators have to contend with at the state and federal levels, would hinder operators in providing quality telecoms services to the generality of Nigerians, irrespective of their locations.
She noted that as a result of delay often experienced in infrastructure rollout, telecoms companies have only been able to deploy barely 20,000 base stations in the country, stressing that over 70, 000 base stations would be required in Nigeria, given its large size, to provide ubiquitous telecoms services.
“If you have a local government demanding N10m from an operator and you now multiply that by the number of Local Government Areas we have in the country, you would see that this is unsustainable in the long run for the operators.
It is either you kick the operators out of business or force them to pass the cost accrued to them through such illegal taxations their customers in form high tariff,” she said.
The President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Chief Deolu Ogunbajo, noted that between 2006 and 2007, operators were charged about N10, 000 and N20, 000. “And more recently, the charges in form of multiple taxations and illegal demand of some frivolous levies, have run into millions of naira. This is unfavourable as operators may have to pass this cost to subscribers,” he said.
A representative of the Association of Licenced Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and member of the IWG, Mr. Tobe Okigbo, said, “The operators may not have other choices than to push additional cost incurred to their subscribers rather than allow a telecom firm to totally shut down.”
Okigbo gave the indication during the maiden media parley of the IWG on multiple taxation which was set up by the NCC to address ongoing cases of multiple taxation and its potential dangers on telecom growth in the country.
The group called for urgent action by the government at all levels to support the industry’s stakeholders in nipping the incessant cases of multiple taxation and illegal and frivolous taxes in the bud to prevent operators passing the cost of the taxes on the over 96 million telecom subscribers on their various networks in form of increased tariff.
Via All Africa