Business
NCC Resolves To Protect Telecom Subscribers
Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has noted malpractices in the telecommunication sector and expressed commitment to protect subscribers from cheating firms and operators.
NCC made the pledge at its 98th Consumer Outreach Programme held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state.
Deputy Director of the Consumer Affairs Bureau of NCC, Alhaji. Ismail Adedigba, noted that the event was to provide telecom consumers with necessary tools to protect them from market exploitation and fraud.
Adedigba, said the NCC through its regulatory mandate ensures that the consumer is the “king” as such must be accorded their rights which included the right to be heard, right to be educated, right to choose, right to safety.
Adedigba said the decision of the NCC to initiate regular consumer-operator-regulator meetings was based on the complaints.
He said the complaints were about unsolicited text messages and calls, failure/refusal to roll over unused data at the expiration of data bundles by service providers.
Others are, automatic renewal of data services upon expiration and activation/subscription to data and value added services (VAS) without prior consent of the subscribers and call masking.
He said the NCC in response to the complaints developed a 2442 DND Short Code to solve unsolicited text messages.
“At NCC, our objectives is to ensure that consumers get value for their money, and we acted by issuance of direction to service provider on Data Roll over.
“The directive now enables consumers to roll over unused data for period of time, ranging from one day to seven days, depending on the subscriber’s data plan. It took effect from 21st of May,’’ he said.
The Tide source reports that more than 2,000 telecom consumers turned up for the event.
They were taken through necessary tools that would allow them make rational and informed decisions when making choice of services, including the new toll free number 622 for complaints to the NCC.
The Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau of the NCC, Mrs Felicia Onquegbuchulam, spoke on the theme “Using information and education as tools for consumer empowerment and Protection’’.
She said the consumer Outreach programme was one of the initiatives of the NCC to bring together telecom subscriber in the rural areas with the Network operators and the regulators.
She said the aim was to discuss and proffer solutions to consumers’ related issues and ensure consumers had the value for money through effective service delivery.
“The forum seeks to educate telecom consumers and other stakeholders of contemporary issues generating interest in the industry.
“It also serves as a feedback mechanism for the commission in making regulatory interventions for the benefit of the consumers and the service providers as well as the industry as a whole’’, Onwueguchulam said.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
