Subscribers Welcome Ban On GSM Promos, Lotteries

GSM subscribers on Wednesday
welcome the ban placed on promos and lotteries by the industry regulator,
saying they preferred quality services to the freebies being offered by the
telecom operators.

 President of
National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu
Ogunbanjo, told  newsmen in Lagos, that
the ban was a “welcome development.”

‘’It is a welcome development, although it is a mixed
feeling for subscribers, because some subscribers are being empowered with the
lotteries and promos, and promos also bring down tariffs.

“However, we cannot compromise good quality for promos;
we prefer good quality services than promos. So there is nothing wrong with
what NCC had done,’’ Ogunbanjo said.

He said that promotions could resume when the operators
had stabilised the networks to the required capacities.

The NATCOMS President urged the telecom service
providers to do all within their capacities to offer their customers value for
money.

Also, an Information Technology (IT) expert, Mr Lanre
Ajayi, commended the NCC on the ban.

Ajayi, Chief Executive of Pinet Informatics, said in
Lagos that there was the need to reduce congestion on the networks for better
service experience. He said that network congestion was as a result of higher
demand than supply capacity as the networks were unable to carry the volume of
traffic.

“There are two ways to address congestion on the
networks: it is either you expand the networks capacities very quickly, so that
they can accommodate all the traffic.

“You can also reduce the traffic on them and a way of
reducing traffic on the networks is to limit those promotions,’’ said Ajayi,
who is also the President, Association of Telecommunications Company of
Nigeria.

He, however, called for a “slow down” on the promos,
saying that a complete ban might be inappropriate.

‘’The trend of the promo is about reducing tariffs and
giving incentives for people to make more calls; so, if you don’t lower those
tariffs beyond reasonable level, then unnecessary calls will not be made,’’ he
said.

Ajayi spoke in his personal capacity.

Mr Akinwale Goodluck, MTN Corporate Services Executive,
told NAN that the company just received a letter on the ban from NCC.

“We are still reviewing it and we will make our position
known in the next day or two,’’ Goodluck said.

Reacting to the ban, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said
that the telecom umpire had exercised its statutory duty as a regulator.

Our corespondent reports that the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday announced the ban of all promotions
by telecommunications operators, as well as lotteries being carried out on the
GSM networks.

NCC Director of Public Affairs,  Mr Tony Ojobo, said in a statement that the
ban, which took immediate effect, would remain in force until such a time as
might be determined by the Commission.

He said that recently, NCC had been inundated with
several complaints from consumers and industry stakeholders against the various
promotions offered by telecommunications operators.

According to him, the Commission carefully evaluated the
complaints received, especially against the backdrop of sustaining the
integrity of the networks.

He added that the complaints were evaluated in the
general interest of the consumers and against the backdrop of the
socio-economic impact of these promotions on operators and other relevant
stakeholders.

‘’Having observed that these promotions have increased the
number of minutes available to subscribers for use within a limited period of
time, thereby creating congestion in the networks as subscribers try to use up
the available minutes within the stipulated time.

‘’That on-net calls were now being offered by operators
at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates, thereby introducing
anti-competitive practices and behaviour.

‘’That termination of calls were becoming increasingly
difficult from one network to another and overall consumer experience on the
networks has become very poor, thereby making it extremely difficult for
subscribers to make calls successfully.

‘’The Commission, therefore, has banned all promotions
by telecommunications network operators, as well as lotteries being carried out
on such networks,’’ the NCC director said.

He said that the ban covered all proposed and approved
promotions and lotteries on which the Commission had given approval further to
the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) entered into with the National Lottery
Regulatory Commission (NLRC).

Our Correspondent reports  that the telecom operators affected by the
ban include Globacom, MTN, Intercellar, Visafone, Etisalat, Airtel and
Multilinks.