The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has stated that from tomorrow, 20th
July, telecommunications service providers must activate a “Do Not Disturb
facility” for subscribers who do not want to receive unsolicited text messages,
stressing that telecom companies that do not adhere to this risks a fine of N10
million.
Speaking on Tuesday when he received the Minister of
Communications, Barr Adebayo Shittu at the NCC headquarters in Abuja, he stated
that “I’ve started receiving this notification but it is going to apply to all
consumers without distinction; whether you are the regulator or an ordinary
consumer you will receive similar text messages from telcos that empowers you
to opt in to the do not disturb facility in virtually all unsolicited text
messages.”
His words, “One regulatory measure we have already put in
place is that henceforth, I think it’s from tomorrow 20th of July all text
messages must have a do not disturb provision because consumers can then opt
into this do not disturb provision to say don’t disturb me I don’t want these
text messages anymore. If this important regulatory directive is not adhered to
there will be consequences. I think there is a fine of about N10million for non
adherence. So we really mean business on this one.”
In his speech, the Communications Minister, stated that the
NCC and the telecom companies in the country “must consider them as two
brothers who are like Siamese twins whether they like it or not, one exist for
the other”, stressing that “they must continue to tell themselves the truth and
the truth is that Nigerian people are daily complaining.”
While pointing out areas that needed more work to be done,
Shittu said: “Even me as Minister of Communications, messages come which are
unsolicited, a lot of times, monies are deducted. They ask you to press
something if you want to discontinue and despite the fact that you discontinue,
they next time they are still charging you. I mean, this occurs every now and
then. I think there is still a lot of work that needs to be done on that.
“Drop calls have become so pervasive, everybody experiences
it. I think we must do something to stem that tide because if we fail to do
this, the Nigerian people will see us as having failed in protecting their
interest. A lot of people believe that telcos are not paying what is due. We
have a lot of proposals from accountants, a number of professionals who have
brought evidences that these telcos are really underpaying what is due to
government. Again, this is another important thing that we have to look at.”
No comments:
Post a Comment