Tag Archives: Subscribers

Proposed data tariff hike will protect subscribers – NCC

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The Nigerian Communications Commission has said the proposed data hike was aimed at preventing monopoly and protecting the interest of subscribers.

Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau of the NCC, Ismail Adedigba said this on the sidelines of the 81st consumer outreach programme held in Osogbo.

He said some telecommunications companies may reduce tariff to scare new entrants into the industry and then increase it later on.

The NCC boss said, “It is the NCC’s mandate to regulate activities in the industry, to protect the interest of subscribers. That is the reason behind the plan to increase data tariffs.

“If we allow the operators to charge any price, some can charge very low prices and they will take all customers to their networks at the expense of new entrants.

“Nothing is free; once the consumers take the bait of rushing to the network offering cheaper tariff, competition will be eliminated. The effect is that once the big operators know that new entrants have been frustrated, they will increase their prices and the consumers will not have any choice because the new entrants have been crippled.

“At the end of the day, you would have predating prices and there will be no competition against the few ones left in the sector. So, we will continue to enlighten Nigerians.”

Nigeria to lead Africa to one billion mobile subscriptions by 2022.

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With report showing that sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA), which refers to countries that are fully or partially located south of the Sahara, mobile penetration is currently at 85 per cent and projected to hit 105 per cent by 2022, amounting to over one billion mobile subscriptions, Nigeria is expected to fast track the growth.

 

Nigeria currently is the largest and fastest telecommunications market in Africa with about $38 billion investment and active mobile subscriptions of over 150 million as at September.

 

According to the Mobility Report, a research by Ericsson, which forecast a huge mobile penetration growth in SSA and claimed that the region has the highest growth rate in mobile subscriptions globally, there will be 550 million fifth generation wireless system (5G) subscriptions in 2022.

 

The report, which said North America will lead the way in uptake of 5G subscriptions, where a quarter of all mobile subscriptions are forecast to be for 5G in 2022, observed that Asia Pacific will be the second fastest growing region for 5G subscriptions, with 10 per cent of all subscriptions being 5G in 2022.

 

“This year, Ericsson has published 5 Regional Reports with the Global Mobility Report. The Sub-Saharan Africa Mobility Report reveals that while total mobile subscriptions penetration in the region is currently 85 percent, this number is expected to reach 105 percent by 2022 with over 1 billion mobile subscriptions. This makes Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with highest growth rate in mobile subscriptions globally.

 

“From 2016 to 2022, Sub-Saharan Africa will dramatically shift from a region with a majority of GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions, to around 83 per cent of all subscriptions on WCDMA/HSPA and LTE,” the reports stated.”

 

The Mobility Report informed that by the end of 2016, there will be 3.9 billion Smartphone subscriptions globally with almost 90 per cent of these subscriptions registered on WCDMA/HSPA and LTE networks.

 

By 2022, the number of Smartphone subscriptions is forecast to reach 6.8 billion, with more than 95 per cent of the subscriptions registered on WCDMA/HSPA, LTE and 5G networks.

 

According to Ericsson, in SSA, smart phones penetration will reach around 80 percent by 2022 while mobile subscriptions on smart phones will rise by 21 per cent yearly from 2016 to 2022.

The report also highlighted the role Internet of Things plays in providing new means to deliver efficient, innovative solutions that meet socio-economic challenges and transform business models to unlock growth in SSA.

 

Across SSA, the report projects cellular Internet of Things (IoT), which describes a network of physical objects that feature an IP address for internet connectivity, connections growing from 11 million in 2016 to 75 million connections in 2022.

 

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report also forecasts that in 2022, there will be 8.9 billion mobile subscriptions, of which 90 percent will be for mobile broadband. At this point in time, there will be 6.1 billion unique subscribers.

 

As of Q3 2016, 84 million new mobile subscriptions were added during the quarter to reach a total of 7.5 billion, growing at around three per cent year-on-year. India grew the most in terms of net additions during the quarter (+15 million), followed by China (+14 million), Indonesia (+6 million), Myanmar (+4 million) and the Philippines (+4 million). Mobile broadband subscriptions are growing by around 25 per cent year-on-year, increasing by approximately 190 million in Q3 2016 alone. The total number of mobile broadband subscriptions is now around 4.1 billion.

 

According to the report, mobile data traffic continues to grow, driven both by increased Smartphone (an advanced system similar to a personal computer for mobile or handheld use),subscriptions and a continued increase in average data volume per subscription, fuelled primarily by more viewing of video content. In Q3 2016, data traffic grew around 10 percent quarter-on-quarter and 50 percent year-on-year.

 

A rise in access and viewing of video content is also a driver for mobile data traffic growth in SSA. Other drivers are wider network coverage, continued reduction in prices of both devices and services and a growing population with 57 per cent of the current population under 15 years old.

 

President of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, Jean-Claude Geha, said: “Data traffic is forecast to grow by around 55 per cent yearly between 2016 and 2022, that is a 13 times growth. This rapid growth is driving operators to explore methods of optimizing network capacity, one of which is complementing traffic via Wi-Fi networks – with traffic expected to rise 70 per cent yearly between 2016 and 2022.”

We have been fair to our subscribers in Nigeria – DSTV

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MultiChoice Nigeria has described as misleading and inaccurate recent media reports accusing it of unfairness to Nigerian subscribers.

In the last few weeks, there have been media reports purporting that MultiChoice effected a 20 per cent slash in DStv subscription in countries which it operates, leaving out Nigeria and South Africa.

In a statement signed by Caroline Oghuma, Public Relations Manager, DStv, the company said that subscription rates across countries are easily verified, and that all the facts are on the internet for all to see.

While admitting that DStv bouquet subscriptions were slashed in other countries, as reported, she explained that reduction was way below the 20 per cent claimed by the authors of the reports.

On the exclusion of Nigeria from the list of countries affected by the slash, Oghuma said Nigerian DStv subscribers have always paid lower rates than subscribers in the affected countries and, despite the recent reduction, still pay lower.

“For two years, prices were not increased in Nigeria until April, 2015. Even when they were increased, they remained substantially lower than in other countries.

MultiChoice made a decision to absorb costs on behalf of the Nigerian subscriber because the company recognizes that the country is passing through a difficult economic phase,” she explained.

On the agitation for “pay-as-you-view”, Oghuma said there is no such model in pay-television, blaming the demand on misinformation, which makes the public confuse pay-as-you-view with pay-per-view (PPV).

Pay-per-view, she explained, is a model used in the telecast of one-off, usually, high-ticket events in sports and entertainment.

She said the pay-per-view requires a subscriber to have an active subscription on top of which an amount is paid for the specific event the subscriber desires to watch on pay-per-view.

“A good example of this was last year’s world boxing title bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. The two-hour fight was exclusively on pay-per-view in the United States, where boxing fans paid $99.5 to watch the fight in addition to having an active subscription. In Nigeria, boxing fans watched it on DStv’s SuperSport as part of their Premium bouquet. Pay-per-view is considerably more expensive and is for one-off events,” she said.

She added that the company remains committed to providing improved services and customer-focused initiatives because it values its subscribers.

Recently, she said, the company made available toll-free lines on all the mobile telephone networks in the country to ensure that subscribers can reach its call centres at no cost when they have issues with the service.

The operating hours at its call centres, she further said, have been extended and is now 8am to 9pm daily, including on weekends and public holidays.

In addition, Oghuma said, MultiChoice is the first pay-TV service provider to allow customers to switch off their accounts for seven days twice a year when they are not at home. The company also announced the Nigerian Television International (NTAi) channel as the Free-to-Air channel for subscribers when their subscription expires.

“These initiatives received a nod of approval from the Consumer Protection Council (CPC),” she concluded.

NCC to sanction 13 operators 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.