The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has disclosed that the Commission has taken series of measures to improve regulations to accommodate the rapid and continuous development of the industry, including discouragement of theft of telephone handsets, and creation of unified short cut call code for all networks in the country to make life much easier for the people.
Danbatta said this Thursday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, during the two-day Stakeholders Consultative Forum on “Talk to the Regulator” themed: ‘Engaging Stakeholder’s Satisfaction’.
Represented by Mr Babajika Mohammed, Director, Licensing and Authorization, as well as, Engr. Bako Wakil, Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity Department, on both days, where complaints of stakeholders including licensees were entertained and solutions proffered to the challenges, Danbatta said that the Commission had facilitated “the Roll-Out of 5G service provision, as well as, introduction of Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Licence to bridge the gap between unserved and underserved areas”.
Explaining why many subscribers have problems with making calls, Engr. Bako Wakil, on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman, said use of substandard telephone handsets was largely blamed.
According to him: “The substandard telephone sets that have not been type-approved by the Commission may likely cause problem to the networks and also affect the quality of service. That is why we are encouraging every person to ensure that the telephone handset you are buying is one that has been type-approved by the Commission.
“And we have a list of all the telephones that we have type-approved on our website and people can look at it. It is not only telephone handsets but every device that is being connected to the national network is actually listed on our website. If a telephone handset is substandard, or it is counterfeit, it will not function well, and therefore it will introduce noise and sometimes you will be blaming the network provider. Solution to this is use of type-approved telephone devices,” he said.
He also said that: “Theft of phones has become very frequent in this country, especially during occasions like wedding, funeral and all those kinds of stuff. We are putting a device management solution that will take care of all sorts. That solution will also take care of theft and substandard handsets. It will also take care of theft of phones. Once a phone is stolen and it is reported, we can blacklist that phone and once it is blacklisted, it will not work on any of the networks no matter which sim you put. It will not work. And that will discourage stealing of phones once the solution is in place.”
Many of the licensees in attendance from states in the South West, commended the NCC for creating room for feedback from them, an avenue which afforded them opportunity of speaking out on challenges they were facing, with solutions provided and hopes kept alive on others to be reviewed.
