" ITREALMS: 12 Sins of Mobile Operators in Nigeria in 12 years

Sunday, August 04, 2013

12 Sins of Mobile Operators in Nigeria in 12 years


How time flies, just 12 years ago, the telecommunications subscribers cum consumers have groaned in pains as a result of poor quality service of the telecommunications operating companies, so says the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS).

According to NATCOMS president, Deolu Ogunbanjo, in a 12 Sins of Mobile Operators in Nigeria as listed in his letter to the operators through the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) seeking compensation, he justified their demands, arguing that the N5000 per subscriber as compensation for poor quality of service in the next 12 years, should be free to be used across networks.

Some of the sins of mobile operators based on deficiencies, he told ITRealms, include:
"1. Dialing a number between 5-10 times before getting connected /not-connected

2. Dialing several times and still getting a ‘call failed’ message.

3. Moving from one place to the other in search of network signal before receiving or making calls

4. When you dial and eventually connected, you will be a lucky subscriber if both caller and recipient can hear each other without voice-breaks. Often times, the caller /recipient may hear the recipient /caller, while the caller /recipient cannot hear. Yet this incomplete call is paid for.

5. Sometimes when both of you are connected and you can hear each other, after talking for few minutes, one of you will not hear the other again. The call has been terminated by one of the networks.

6. When you have tried to call through voice to no avail, you want to try the SMS (Text Massage) alternative. After typing your SMS and trying to send, it may not sail through, even after several trials as it gives the usual ‘message sending failed’ on the screen. You must keep trying even if it takes 15-30 minutes before a successful attempt.

7. When your Text Message (SMS) is successfully sent, and the message is not delivered, the Subscriber is still charged.

8. When your mobile-phone credit gets exhausted and you try to recharge in order to make an urgent call, you may not be able to recharge no matter how many times you try at that particular time.

9. Sometimes, when you successfully recharge your phone either for voice calls or data /internet browsing and the network operator mistakenly remove Subscriber’s credit, and thereafter, Subscriber complains through operator’s customer care line or goes physically to operator’s customer care office, they deliberately keep posting Subscribers and not actually resolving the complaint. And in view of the small amounts usually involved, the Subscriber does not seek for compensation, even when he tries, the customer-care officer is trained to tell stories that will eventually frustrate the Subscriber.

10. When trying to complain to customer-care of a network problem or over-scratched recharge card with some pin numbers not showing, they will either direct you to their website or keep you waiting for between 30 minutes to 1-hour. If you are lucky to get attention and you are eventually attended to, it takes 3-6 months before crediting the subscriber, after taking the details.

11. When the Subscriber complains through network operator’s customer care line, he /she will be told that it will be resolved in few numbers of days to no avail. Even when the Subscriber physically goes to the Customer Care Centre of the network operator, it is also promises of resolution to no avail. Only 1 or 2 of every 100 cases are resolved satisfactorily.

12. When the operators run their promotions for profit motives, they deliberately congest the network to the detriment of good service quality which affects Subscribers."

Therefore, Ogunbanjo insisted that Nigerian telecom subscribers deserve to be compensated.

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